Far From Over
by Adalon Ithilriel
Summary: When Selene disappears after Viktor's death, Michael wants to go after her. Only his duty to the lycans holds him back. And when she returns, the news she brings is as much a surpise as she is! COMPLETED! Reposted for grammer.
1. Prologue

Author's Note: This is my first fic, so please be nice. I wasn't even going to post this, but vampirehuntr talked me into it. (Speaking of vampirehuntr, if you haven't read her fic, you should) Thanks to Moose: A ton and a half of thanks, I couldn't have done it without you!! Please review!  
  
Summary: After Viktor's death, Selene disappears. Michael wants to go after her, but his duty to the lycans prevents it. When she suddenly shows up nearly a year later, he is thrilled to see her. But the news she brings is not good.  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own any of it. Only original characters and plot are mine. Please don't sue!  
  
  
  
Prologue: The Aftermath  
  
Michael shivered in his human skin. After the night's events, his human form felt like that of a stranger. His body almost ached to become his bestial self again, though his human mind reviled it. He wondered if Selene or Lucian felt this way. He searched through Lucian's memories, but found nothing that answered his question.  
  
He followed Selene out of the sewer system that was the lycan's former den, and into the rainy night. His hair, already damp from his fight with Viktor, quickly became soaked, as did his pants.  
  
"Wait a moment," Selene said, just before they rounded a corner. She didn't have her gun out, so he assumed no one was attacking, but then what was going on?  
  
"What is it?" he asked, trying to peer around her.  
  
"How far are we from your apartment?" Selene asked, ignoring his question.  
  
"Four blocks," he responded, very confused. Selene glanced at the horizon, and Michael understood. Sunrise was coming. Selene broke into a run, and Michael followed, surprised to find that he had to slow down so she could keep up. Apparently, his hybrid speed carried over to his human form.  
  
His apartment door stood open from the previous night. Selene, behind Michael, and only slightly out of breath from her long sprint, shut the door behind them, bracing the broken lock with a chair. Michael tossed her some clothes so she could change out of her dripping latex. She went into the bathroom and shut the door. Michael sighed; he'd hoped she would change in the bedroom. She probably wanted a shower, he told himself.  
  
  
  
Selene leaned back against the bathroom door. Everything she had been told, everything she had believed, was a lie. The one person she thought she could count on to always tell her the truth had been the greatest liar of all. And she had killed him.  
  
Kraven, she reflected as she took off her corset and began unzipping her suit, had only wanted to end the war. Admittedly, he had gone about it in a way that would result in his being the leader of vampires, but all-in-all, his intentions had been good.  
  
_Especially good for him_, she thought. And Michael...How did she feel about Michael? He was attractive, certainly. Erika was right about that. But she barely knew him. Selene turned on the shower, and stepped into the heated water. The drops that fell on her skin were hot, almost scalding, but her skin did not warm. Sometimes she felt as though her skin would never warm up to the temperature it had been when she was a human. She felt like she'd been cold since the night Viktor had turned her, nearly five hundred years ago.  
  
Ten minutes later, she turned off the water and grabbed a towel, rubbing the drops of water from her skin. She put on the clothes Michael had given her, consisting of an oversized t-shirt and sweatpants. She felt alien in the comfortable clothes, having never worn anything so casual.  
  
She left the bathroom, and found Michael, in a dry pair of pants, but still shirtless, making coffee. He handed her a cup and she took a sip gratefully. The hot drink warmed her insides in a way the shower had not. She drank greedily, absorbing its warmth.  
  
"Cold?" asked Michael, noting the way she wrapped her hands around the mug.  
  
"No, I just like hot drinks," Selene told him. Michael remembered the cold feel of her lips against his that night in the safe house.  
  
"It has to do with being a vampire," she said. "When you're turned, all of your warmth gradually fades. Most vampires do not regret their existence as an immortal, except for the inability to get warm." Selene took another drink of her coffee and Michael asked, "What do we do now?" Selene did not answer, and Michael wondered if she'd heard him. He was about to repeat his query when she said, without looking at him, "You should rest here today, and go looking for the pack tonight. With Lucian dead, they'll need a leader. As the first hybrid, they'll accept you." She stopped, and took a sip of her coffee, then set the empty cup down on the kitchen table.  
  
"What about you?" Michael asked, noticing she had not included herself in this scenario. Selene said nothing, only shrugged. She knew she couldn't go back to the vampires; they no doubt thought her a traitor of the worst sort. She had killed Viktor after all.  
  
"You could stay here. With me," Michael said.  
  
"Where would I sleep?" Selene asked, ever practical. "You don't have a couch."  
  
"Well, you could sleep on the bed, with me," Michael ventured tentatively, hoping she would accept his blatant offer. "Or I could sleep on the floor," he added quickly. Selene paused to consider, then said. "I think maybe I'll stay, just for the night." Michael smiled and Selene, to Michael's surprise as much as her own, smiled back.  
  
_What is wrong with me?_ She wondered. She didn't know how she could let him get to her the way he did. She wanted him in a way she hadn't wanted any man ever before, human or vampire.  
  
Michael's bed was narrow; they would have to sleep close to avoid falling off. Michael climbed in, patting the empty sheets beside him. Selene joined him after only a moment's hesitation, curling her body against his, her back to his chest. He draped one arm around her waist. His other hand traced patterns on her bare arm, like letters of an alphabet only he knew.  
  
Selene felt safe in his arms, warm and at ease for the first time almost since she'd been turned. Enveloped in the warmth of Michael's embrace, she began to drift towards sleep.  
  
"Selene," Michael whispered in her ear, brushing her damp hair from her neck.  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"You could come with me tomorrow," he suggested. "To the lycan den, I mean. I'm sure they wouldn't mind. You did kill Viktor after all."  
  
"Michael," she said reasonably, turning in his arms. "I'm a vampire. They would never accept me."  
  
"But Viktor—"  
  
"Michael," she said, cutting him off, pressing her fingers against his lips. "You think killing Viktor should count for something, should matter, but it doesn't. I've killed too many of your kind."  
  
"It matters to me," he told her quietly against her fingers. She took them away and replaced them with her lips. He tightened his grip around her waist, pulling her closer. She brought one hand up to stroke his cheek, the other sliding beneath his shirt, running her hand over his lean frame, making him growl with pleasure. Michael remembered the night in the questioning room. Her lips had been cold and lifeless beneath his. They were still cold, but as for lifeless, well...  
  
Her breath came faster and harder as their kiss deepened and her clothes began to hit the floor.  
  
  
  
Selene awoke in Michael's arms an hour or two after dusk. Her bare skin was warm within the circle his arms created around her. She shivered with the novelty of the pleasure that the combination of warmth and Michael's love had instilled in her. She gently disentangled herself from him, albeit reluctantly, and dressed herself in her own clothes, which were still in the bathroom. Dressed, with her hair as arranged and combed as her fingers could manage, she stood by the bed, staring at Michael's still sleeping form. He looked so vulnerable asleep. She hated to leave him like this, but she knew if he asked her to go with him again, she would not be able to refuse him.  
  
_I love you_, she thought, picking up the clothes she had borrowed from him, and folding them. She almost put them on the dresser, but decided to take them with her, for memory's sake.  
  
With one last glance at his sleeping form, she left, closing the door carefully behind her.  
  
  
  
A/N: What do you think? Please review!!!  
  
I'm reposting all my chapters. Nothing major, mostly grammar stuff. So if you notice anything specific that you think is a bit screwy (or a lot screwy) please let me know so I can fix it! 


	2. Renegades

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to get this up; I couldn't decided where I wanted to go with it, and I had problems getting my younger brothers off the computer. Elisa: Thank you for the loan of Xavier, and for the plot help!  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Please don't sue!  
  
  
  
Chapter 1: Renegades  
  
Michael woke with a jolt, sweating from the terror of the dream. Breathing hard, he tried to remember what it was about the dream that had scared him so badly, but his tired mind could not remember the details, only the terror. He looked at the bed beside him to see if his abrupt movements had woken Selene. To his surprise, he saw that the bed was empty. It was only then that he realized that he couldn't smell her anywhere in the apartment.  
  
She was gone.  
  
  
  
Selene walked through the dark London streets. She'd left Michael's apartment hours ago, and she was almost to her destination. She was headed towards an old building on the outskirts of town. In the basement of the building, there was an old safe house. To her knowledge, the building had been used only once since she had been turned.  
  
An hour later, she had reached it. The building was not tall, only three floors, and looked more like an old house than a former vampire hideout. She opened the door carefully, the old wood creaking ominously. She descended the stairs in the back of the building and followed the twisting maze of the basement to another wooden door. Once made of strong oak, the wood had deteriorated over the centuries and was now thin and weak.  
  
As Selene reached out for the tarnished silver handle, she stopped, hearing voices on the other side of the door. Their words were muffled, but she could pick out a few words. One voice, a deep commanding male was saying, "Two dead," then, "Lucian gone." Another voice, a female this time, said, "Almost time" and a third voice, somewhat familiar and distinctly that of a well brought-up female, "Awakened Marcus." Then all sounds on the other side of the door died, and Selene strained to hear more. She heard footsteps moving towards the door and realized that they had picked up her scent.  
  
She stepped back and looked for a place to hide, knowing if she ran they would follow. But the door was already open, and a tall, handsome, male vampire stepped out and grabbed her arm before she could react. He pulled her into the room and shoved her roughly into a chair. Looking around, Selene saw four vampires in front of her, and could smell one behind her. Of the four in front, three were male, and one female. All four were dressed for battle, as Selene was. One of the males, a brown-haired vampire of medium height asked, "Who are you?" while at the same time, the female, a short, red-haired, green-eyed vampire, asked, "What are you doing here?" The other two males, both tall and blond, said nothing, merely folded their arms and waited. Selene was not intimidated. She knew she could easily take any of the four; it was the one who had captured her that worried her. He leaned against one wall, letting the others do the dirty work. She opened her mouth to say something rude when the vampire behind her spoke.  
  
"Selene?"  
  
Selene twisted in surprise. The voice was very familiar, but Erika couldn't be here; she would never leave the manor. But as she faced the vampire behind her, she saw it was indeed her former servant Erika.  
  
"Erika? What are you doing here?" Selene asked, genuinely surprised.  
  
"I could ask you the same thing," Erika said tartly. "Why aren't you with your precious lycan? What was his name? Michael?" The derisive tone with which she said Michael's name caused fury to boil up inside Selene and, unable to help it, her canines elongated and she bared them to Erika. The servant girl took a step back, surprised. At this, the vampire who seemed to be in charge pushed himself off the wall, and walked over to them.  
  
"She is the one who killed Viktor?" he asked Erika. "The one in love with a lycan?" Erika nodded, and he directed his attention to Selene.  
  
"How did you kill him?" he asked her. "I thought Viktor was damn near indestructible." Selene stared at him, her elongated canines and icy blue eyes slowly becoming normal. "I'm Xavier, by the way," he told her. "Leader of the renegades."  
  
"Renegades?" Selene said, confused. Surely Viktor would have told her about renegades?  
  
"Many of us are unhappy with the way the Elders dealt with certain...things. So we left," Xavier told her. Selene looked at them, and saw a sadness there, a sadness similar to the one always present in Lucian's eyes.  
  
"Sonja," she said. It was not a question. Xavier nodded.  
  
"When Sonja was killed, that's when most of us left," he told her. "There are many more of us back at—" he was cut off by a knock on the door. "Yes?" he asked in the general direction of the door.  
  
A small rat-faced boy stuck his head in through the door. "It's almost dawn sir," the boy told them. Xavier nodded to him and the boy left, leaving Selene to wonder who he was.  
  
"We have to leave now," Xavier told her. "And I would like you to come with us." Selene considered, caution and curiosity battling. In the end, curiosity won out, and she nodded, a little warily and stood up. She followed the other vampires out of the little room and out into the street. Outside, there was two cars, which Selene hadn't noticed before. Xavier and Selene climbed into one, a black Mitsubishi Lancer GT-2000; the other four vampires got into a dark blue Mitsubishi Eclipse. Erika got into a taxi that was waiting a little ways down the street, presumably to go back to the manor.  
  
Selene was silent as they drove out of London, waiting for Xavier to speak first. After only thirty minutes of driving, they reached a manor. It was not as large as the one the coven had lived in, but Selene didn't think that there were quite as many renegade vampires as loyal. Xavier stopped the car and got out, gesturing for Selene to follow. She did, following him into the manor, and up the stairs into a large library. He found a table and sat down, Selene taking the chair across from him.  
  
"I was one of Sonja's suitors," he told her. "When her affair with that lycan was discovered, Viktor covered it up as best he could, and when she was killed, Viktor told us that it had been an accident. Perhaps a year later, one of the lycans spilled the beans. Viktor had him killed, of course, but by then it was too late. Rumors began circulating, and a few vampires, including myself, left. Over the centuries, others have left the coven for other reasons and joined us. We now number around one hundred. We had been planning to attack the vampires and kill Viktor, until we heard that the job already been completed. Is that true?"  
  
"Yes," Selene told him shortly, still unwilling to talk about it. He had been like a father to her and she had killed him.  
  
"Can I ask why?" Xavier said, curious. He wanted Selene to join the renegades, but he had to be sure of her reasons.  
  
"I found out about Sonja," she said simply. Xavier nodded.  
  
"We may have a place for you here," he said speculatively. 


	3. Settling In

Author's Note: Sorry this took so long, I wanted to make this one a bit longer than the others. Also, my dumb brother would NOT get off. Please review! Especially if you want me to post the next chapter. Reviews make me happy, and happy writers write faster. Criticism is welcome too!!  
  
Disclaimer: Still don't own anything. I write for pleasure, not profit.  
  
  
  
Chapter 2: Settling In  
  
Kestral, the red-haired, green-eyed Scots woman who had been at the night's meeting, had offered to share her room with Selene until Xavier decided on a job for her and gave her a room in the manor.  
  
Kestral's room was surprisingly elegant. Two twin beds were pushed against the opposite walls, each covered in thick green comforters and gold throw pillows. The walls were a beautiful shade of cream that seemed to increase the space of the room. The furniture was all made of dark cherry wood.  
  
Kestral sat on one bed, while Selene looked around.  
  
"Nice," she said, gazing at the spying equipment on the desk. Kestral wondered if she was talking about the room or the computers. She leaned back on her hands and waited for the question she knew was coming.  
  
Selene did not disappoint. She turned to Kestral and asked, "Why are you renegade?"  
  
Without missing a beat, Kestral returned with, "Why did you kill Viktor?"  
  
Selene didn't answer, only turned to the other bed and began piling the throw pillows neatly on the floor. Kestral smiled to herself, pleased she had deflected the question so easily. She crawled under the sheets of her bed, and flipped the hidden switch that turned off the lights.  
  
"'Night," she said, and began laughing, because, of course, it was day. Selene allowed herself a smile before drifting off to sleep.  
  
  
  
Michael dressed quickly, hoping to catch Selene's scent outside before it got too faint. Once outside, he looked around, and, seeing no one, let his fangs elongate and his eyes blacken, but maintained his human body. He sniffed the air, testing it, trying to discern which way Selene had gone. But instead of the distinct, vampire scent of Selene, he smelt the dark musk of lycan. A growl escaped his throat, and three lycans stepped out of the shadows. All three were in their human form, but the change was close upon them. It would not take much for them to release their tense hold on a human appearance and become bestial.  
  
"Michael," said Raze's deep voice, penetrating the peaceful darkness of the early morning. Michael forced himself into human form so he could speak more easily.  
  
"I know what you want, Raze," he said. "But can't it wait at least until morning? I have to find Selene." Raze looked at Michael's desperate expression and was reminded forcibly of Lucian immediately after Sonja's death. Using the tactic that had worked best on Lucian, reasonability, Raze said, "Lucian is dead Michael. Without a leader, the vampires will wipe us out."  
  
Michael, in his desperation to find Selene, responded, "Then you lead them. I have to find Selene."  
  
Raze took several steps forward, until he was almost nose-to-nose with Michael. They were so close, Michael could see the barely visible scars on Raze's face from his fight with Soren in the den.  
  
"You would sacrifice our entire species for the sake of one _vampire_," Raze said quietly, his dark voice full of contempt.  
  
Michael brought his hand up and closed it around Raze's throat at the insult to Selene.  
  
"You may be quick, hybrid, but I am older, stronger," Raze told him. "Choose to fight me, and I _will _win." Michael slowly released Raze's throat and stepped back.  
  
"Alright," he said.  
  
  
  
_Kestral walked down the hall, following the screams she heard. Her footsteps were slow, but sure. In one hand, she held her father's sword. She reached her baby sister's room, and a gruesome sight greeted her. The walls were splattered with the blood of her parents, whose bodies now lay, dead and bloodless, on the floor. A tall man now stood over the baby's crib, holding the screaming nanny still with one powerful arm. Blood from cuts on her face and her arms stained her nightgown a ruby color. Her neck was clean on the right side, except for two small punctures which oozed blood. Kestral lifted the sword and walked purposefully into the room. The tall man turned and easily plucked the sword from her hand and knocked her to the ground, without once loosening his grip on the nanny. He turned back to the screeching woman in his arms and plunged his teeth into her neck and drank from her body until she stopped screaming and turned white and bloodless. Kestral stayed frozen where she'd fallen, watching in horror as the man turned to her. He pulled her up from the floor and sank his elongated canines into the creamy skin of her neck.  
  
But even at sixteen, Kestral was strong, and she fought. The tall man, surprised, released her. She tore away, grabbing the sword from the floor as she ran from the room. She fled down the hall to her own room, turning the key in the lock and began piling as much furniture as she could against the door. Her heart beat hard in her chest as she felt the wound on her neck. Stories of ancient and evil creatures filled her mind and it fixed upon the story of the vampyre. The creature whose footsteps now came down the hall towards her room was a vampyre, she knew. And when it bit her, it had turned her into one of its kind. In a day or two, her heart would cease to beat, her lungs to fill with air, and her skin would burn at the touch of sunlight. She would grow cold, like ice, and her skin would never warm again. At these thoughts, tears filled her eyes, and she collapsed on the floor, weeping, as the door began to quiver and shake as the creature outside her door attempted to enter.  
_  
Kestral woke, shaking and crying silently. That night had been terrible for her. Though it had been well over six hundred years ago, and she had made peace with what she was, each time she dreamed, the horror and shame of the night she'd been turned came back in full force. She curled on her side, ignoring the tears that still fell, and tried to fall back asleep.  
  
  
  
Selene was not asleep long before she woke again, wide awake. There was someone in the room with them. She reached under her pillow where she'd stashed her gun and stepped quietly out of bed. She could not see at all in the darkness of Kestral's room, but she saw the door closing quietly. She glanced at Kestral, saw she was sound asleep, and quickly left the room.  
  
In the long hallway outside Kestral's room was a figure walking quickly and quietly down the hall. Selene followed, her gun at the ready. The figure, who she could now see was a man with black hair that reached past his shoulders, slowed to look around and get his bearings, and Selene took the opportunity to catch up and press her gun against the back of his head.  
  
"Turn around slowly," she commanded. His scent made her wary. He smelled of lycan, but somehow also of vampire, and his scent reminded her of Michael. But this man was not Michael.  
  
He turned, as she had commanded, and when she saw his face, she gasped and lowered her gun.  
  
  
  
Michael followed Raze and the two other lycans down the street to a black Phaeton. They all climbed in, Raze driving and Michael in the passenger seat, and the other two, whom Michael didn't know, sitting in the back. He wanted to ask where they were going, but was secretly afraid of Raze.  
  
Raze was obviously much older than him, and he had been Lucian's second-in- command. By all rights, Raze should have been the new alpha. Michael was made more than a little uncomfortable by the huge black lycan.  
  
He remembered that he had Lucian's memories, and began searching through them, trying to find some clue as to where they were going. He saw that the lycans owned a huge manor, bigger even than the vampire manor, which had been unoccupied since the lycans were enslaved, and Michael guessed that was where they were going. He also saw that Raze was older than Lucian by a century or two.  
  
It amazed Michael that this old and powerful lycan had followed Lucian so loyally for so long and that he now wanted Michael to lead the lycans. He looked at Raze sidelong and could tell that the lycan wanted to get to the manor as soon as possible. Something was up.  
  
  
  
"What are you doing here?" Selene hissed, grabbing his arm and pulling him down the hall towards Kestral's room.  
  
"Looking for you," Lucian replied, walking fast to keep up with her.  
  
"Why?" Selene demanded in a whisper, not wanting to wake the other renegades.  
  
"Where's Michael?" he said, ignoring her question.  
  
"With Raze, if everything went right," she told him, opening the door to Kestral's room. "You never answered my question. Why were you looking for me?"  
  
"What happened after Viktor died?"  
  
"Michael and I went back to his apartment and when he was asleep, I left. I ran into Raze and asked him to go get Michael and make sure he didn't come after me. Why were you looking for me?"  
  
"To make sure you understand what needs to be done. These renegades are on to something. Xavier in particular. He knows the Elders well; he knows how they will react. Make sure you follow his orders."  
  
"What is he—" But she was cut off as Lucian whirled with unnatural speed and was gone through the still-open window.  
  
Selene swore softly to herself and lay back down in bed and attempted to fall back asleep.  
  
  
  
Two hours later, she still hadn't managed it. Thoughts of Michael kept drifting into her tired mind, keeping her awake. The most persistent of these thoughts was the memory of biting him. The memory of her teeth plunging into his skin, the hot, metallic, sweet taste of his blood filing her mouth and running down her throat to warm her insides. Michael's blood had tasted slightly of lycan, but more of human. He'd been human longer than lycan when she'd bitten him, and the taste of lycan had not yet taken over his human blood. The taste of human blood was one she had never before tasted, as the drinking of human blood had been outlawed for centuries when she had been turned. Older vampires had told her what it was like to drink the blood of a human; how the taste was one you could never forget, and would always crave.  
  
She had always thought them crazy. She had never found the taste of blood to be particularly appealing, cow and pig blood tasted of liquid metal, and she only drank when she had to.  
  
But now, having tasted Michael's blood, she understood. She understood how some vampires turned humans as often as they could, just to taste their blood.  
  
  
  
Michael lay in the huge bed, acutely aware of the empty space beside him. Selene should have filled that space. He stared at the ceiling, his eyes moving slowly over the entire length of it. The room Raze had told him was traditionally the alpha's was huge. The king bed in which he lay did not even begin to intrude upon the space of the room.  
  
He wondered what René would have thought of this room. She had loved old buildings, like this manor, and the huge, decorated rooms within. He wondered what she would think of him being a lycan-vampire hybrid, and the king of lycans. And about Selene.  
  
Selene. She was so different from René. He'd always thought that if he was going to fall in love again, it would be with someone like René, not a headstrong vampire warrior.  
  
He pictured René in his mind; he could still remember her perfectly, even after three years of no contact whatsoever. He'd fallen in love with her so easily, but it had taken Selene to bring him fully out of the rut he'd been in since René had left him. The two were truly so different, it surprised him. René with her long, soft brown hair that he had loved to run his hands through, and her warm brown eyes. René was delicate, fine-boned, always needing to be comforted and cuddled. She had been a wonderful cook, too.  
  
Selene, though, Selene was so different. She was powerful and strong. She could have men walk in and out of her life—or walk in and out of their lives, it would seem—without batting an eye. But for someone so independent, she was surprisingly passionate. Their one night together had been...incredible.  
  
He wondered where she was now, what she was doing. Had she made it to shelter before daybreak?  
  
He hoped so.  
  
  
  
_"Bite him," Lucian choked out.  
  
Selene stared at him for a moment, then understood. A bite from her would turn him into a hybrid, and he would be able to defeat Viktor. She turned back to Michael, who was still writhing in pain as the liquid nitrate crept through his bloodstream. She let the change take her, and plunged her elongated fangs into Michael's neck, drinking his blood. The sweet, intoxicating liquid flowed into her mouth and down her throat. She had never tasted blood like this before; always before it had just been nourishment, but in a form that disgusted the little human left in her.  
  
This was something else. This was intoxicating in a way no alcohol could ever be. She drank and drank, unable to stop herself. Beneath her teeth, Michael grew still, blood draining from his body. And then he was dead, and she was sobbing, because the sweet liquid was being denied her.  
_  
Selene woke, sobbing as she had been in the dream. But for a different reason entirely. In the dream she had mourned the loss of the sweet intoxicating blood, but awake, she cried because she had killed Michael.  
  
  
  
When Michael woke, he still felt a lingering terror from his dream. He tried again to remember what he had dreamed, but, once again, he failed to come up with it.  
  
He got out of bed, and looked out the window. It was around noon, and for once, it was sunny. As the rays struck his skin, a little shiver passed over him, and he knew it was the vampire in him reacting, but he brushed this aside. He looked out at the grounds of the lycan manor, and could easily picture René outside tending a garden, wearing a big floppy hat.  
  
He tried to push the picture of his wife from his mind, but it would not leave. He wondered why she had been on his mind so much lately. He hadn't seen her in three years, not since he'd woken up one morning and she had not been there. All of her shoes were gone, as were the majority of her clothes and most of her toiletries. She had left him, run off with the man she'd been having an affair with, and he had not seen her from that day to this.  
  
They had married young, just out of college, and their first few years together had been wonderful. René had been a wonderful wife in every aspect, and he'd thought himself the luckiest man alive, as did almost every new husband. But after only three years, what René had called "honeymoon hangover" had worn off. His hours at the hospital become incredibly crazy, and René had begun having an affair with a man at her office.  
  
And then one morning, he'd woken up and she was gone. Just like Selene.  
  
  
  
Marcus could hear footsteps echoing down the hall, coming towards him. He sat on his throne, pondering the state of the Elders' crypt as he waited for them to arrive.  
  
A man, a lycan to judge by his smell, lay on the floor, a stream of blood flowing from the gaping hole in his face to the elaborate design that covered Marcus's tomb. It was that man's blood that had awakened Marcus, and his memories that now surged incoherently through his mind.  
  
Singe had been the man's name, Marcus could discern, and Viktor had killed him.  
  
Viktor. How he hated Viktor. He was glad that the leapfrogging prevented the two of them from ever coming in contact with each other.  
  
The footsteps drew closer.  
  
  
  
Erika walked among the group of vampires going to awaken Marcus. She didn't know most of them; they were all much older than she was. Kahn, who was Selene's age, and not much older than herself, was also among the little group.  
  
Erika glanced sidelong at Kahn. He seemed to be holding up fairly well. The scars that covered his face and neck were beginning to fade, though they were still gruesome to look at. He had been badly mauled by a lycan the previous night. When he had returned, still wounded, but able to move, he had brought news of Kraven and Selene turning against them. He had been close friends with Selene, and seemed badly shaken by his news.  
  
When Erika had visited him in private, he had told her all he knew of what had happened in the sewers. Afterwards, she had used the remaining hours of the night to seek out the renegade vampires that she knew were out there. She had found them quickly, easily navigating the streets of London from the dry safety of a taxi. Xavier, who seemed to already know who she was, had assigned her the task of spying on the vampires.  
  
The vampire who was to awaken Marcus, a tall blond woman with a figure and commanding presence that reminded Erika of the legends of Amazons, who was called Endainme En'Dae, opened the doors to the Elders' crypt, and gasped at what she saw.  
  
Erika peered over the shoulders of those in front of her, and her eyes widened as she saw what had made the unshakable Endainme En'Dae gasp in shock. 


	4. A New Love

Author's Note: Wow, this is a long one. Seven pages! Wow. Very proud of myself, especially in the light that I spent almost all my time this week at play rehearsal. But that's over now, so hopefully I can update faster. I had to change a few things in the first two chapters, namely Selene's age, to fit with the movie. You see, my friend Moose and I planned out this whole timeline thing, starting with the war and going through to when the movie takes place. But we planned it as though the war started 600 years ago. And it didn't; 600 years ago is when Lucian was "killed". So Selene is now around five hundred, instead of two hundred. Please review!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except original characters (Kestral) and the plot. Marcus is only what I imagine him to be. Please don't sue.  
  
  
  
Chapter 3: A New Love  
  
Erika stared in horror at the rotted corpse sitting on the throne on the far side of the room. She had never attended an Awakening before, nor seen an Elder immediately after. She had seen Viktor, but he had been almost normal when she had seen him.  
  
Marcus, having only just been Awakened, was hardly a pleasant sight. Endainme En'Dae had quickly gotten over her initial shock of seeing the last remaining Elder already awake, was already on the other side of the room, connecting Marcus to a packet of blood so the regenerating process could begin.  
  
"Milord," she was saying. "How long have you been awake?"  
  
"Long enough to wonder what happened here," Marcus said coolly, gesturing to the bloody body of Singe. His voice was light and rebuking.  
  
"Perhaps now is not the time to discuss this, milord," Endainme En'Dae responded, her bright green eyes flicking a glance towards the small crowd clustered in the doorway. Marcus followed her glance with his own hazel eyes, and his eyes met and held Erika's for an instant. His gaze filled her with an icy dread, though she could not have said why.  
  
His eyes moved from hers, and scanned the rest of the crowd, then said, "Leave." They all bowed to him, and filled quickly out the door to spread the news that somehow Marcus had been Awakened on his own.  
  
  
  
Erika walked quickly down the hall to her room in the servant's quarters. She must get a message to Xavier quickly. There had been something in Marcus's gaze that told her something was very wrong with the Elder. His scent had been so strange. Something was definitely wrong.  
  
  
  
Marcus turned to Endainme En'Dae, and asked, "Who was she?"  
  
"Hold still," the tall Amazon woman commanded, still connecting long tubes between the Elder and the blood packet. Marcus obeyed, out of respect for the woman he had sired so long ago.  
  
Her history was an interesting one. She was almost as old as he was, and the Council had been debating whether to make her an Elder or not for a few centuries now. She had once been an Amazon queen, and a very powerful one at that. It had been said that Ares, god of war, had been her lover, before the old gods and the old ways had died. When Marcus had turned her, she had been in her early twenties, and she seemed to have aged only slightly in the centuries that had passed since she had become a creature of the night.  
  
"There," Endainme En'Dae said triumphantly, finishing with the final tube. "Now, who was who?"  
  
"That blond girl, with the brown eyes."  
  
"Oh, you mean Erika. She's a servant girl."  
  
"Servant girl?" Marcus asked, surprised. The girl had seemed too proud to be a servant.  
  
"She was a lord's daughter 450 years ago. Viktor thought she was too proud, so he made her a servant. She was Selene's maidservant until Selene turned traitor. Now she serves the Death Dealers."  
  
"I see. Now tell me what has happened since I've been asleep." Endainme En'Dae nodded, and began the long tale.  
  
  
  
Erika sat in the window seat, staring out the window, thinking. It had been a month since Marcus's Awakening. How he had been Awakened was still a mystery, but Selene, the only renegade to have attended, not to mention performed, an Awakening, said it might have something to do with Singe. Erika had told Xavier everything she knew about the remaining Elder, and what she could remember of the throne room when they had entered it. Upon hearing the Singe's body had still been there, and there had been blood in the design covering Marcus's tomb, Selene had said that it was possible the lycan scientist's blood had seeped into the Elder's coffin, and entered his mouth to Awaken him.  
  
But that would make Marcus a hybrid. And that was impossible. He didn't have any lycan smell about him, and he didn't act any different, though she had only lived through one century with him awake. But still, shouldn't she have noticed some sort of change in the Elder's behavior?  
  
Erika was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't hear the footsteps behind her. When Marcus's light voice spoke, she jumped.  
  
"Beautiful night," he said. "The stars have not been this bright in a long time." Erika turned to face him, looking guilty. She should have been doing her work as a servant of the Death Dealers, not staring out the window like some love-sick girl.  
  
"Yes milord," she agreed. It was a nice night, and she planned on going out to feed later, but now she was going to have to talk her way out of another encounter with Marcus. She had run into him several times in the past month, and each time he attempted to engage her in conversation, but she didn't want to involve herself with him until she had figured out what exactly was going on.  
  
And besides, there were her remaining feelings for Kraven to consider. She had gone to the renegades half-hoping that he would be there, but he hadn't. His whereabouts were still a mystery.  
  
"If you will excuse me, milord," Erika said, trying not to sound rude. "I have work that needs doing."  
  
"It can wait," he told her firmly. "If anyone yells at you, then you may tell them to talk to me about it."  
  
_Damn._ So she wasn't going to get out of it by pleading work to do, as she had done in the past.  
  
"Walk with me," he commanded, and held out his arm for her. She laid her hand on it delicately. She wore simple jeans and spaghetti-strap shirt. While she generally preferred nicer clothes—she was a lord's daughter after all—there was no sense in dressing up to clean bedrooms, as she was supposed to be doing tonight.  
  
"You serve the Death Dealers, correct?" Marcus asked conversationally.  
  
"Yes, milord."  
  
"Erika." Marcus stopped and turned to her. "Please do not call me that. I get quite enough of it from everyone else; I don't need it from you as well."  
  
"As you wish, mi—" she stopped herself.  
  
"You see," Marcus said, smiling. "It's not so hard."  
  
"What should I call you then, if not milord?" Erika asked, almost impertinent. She had perfected being a seductress while Kraven was in the manor, and it had all become second nature.  
  
_Perhaps that's not a good thing,_ she thought. His eyes strayed a little from her face before he spoke.  
  
"My name is Marcus," he told her, with a hint of humor in his voice. "You may call me that."  
  
"As you wish... Marcus."  
  
  
  
Erika was surprised when, three days after her midnight talk with Marcus, the head serving woman had told her that Marcus had requested her service in preparing for the banquet with the Council members that night.  
  
She put down the rag she was using to dust Selene's old room and went upstairs to the rooms the Elder occupied, and knocked on the door.  
  
"Come in," Marcus's voice called through the door.  
  
Erika opened the door, and stepped inside, still unsure of what exactly she was doing here.  
  
"Mae told me you wanted my help preparing for the banquet tonight," she said.  
  
"Yes," he told her. "Please, come in." She was already in, but she shut the door behind her and stepped further into the room, still hovering in the entrance. Marcus turned back to the paper he was studying and Erika had the chance to properly look at him.  
  
He was tall, perhaps six feet, and had golden hair and hazel eyes. His skin, though it had not seen the sun for centuries, was a golden color, and when the light caught in his hair and shone on his skin, he seemed almost a god.  
  
In that instant, Erika felt all her feelings for Kraven vanish as if they had never been.  
  
Marcus turned back to her, and smiled.  
  
"I haven't got any idea what I should wear tonight," he told her. "It is a rather important banquet, and I have noticed that you have impeccable taste."  
  
Erika smiled; this was something she was good at. She went to Marcus's closet, and began searching through the clothes there. She found surprisingly few dress clothes. Almost everything he had would be suitable for everyday wear, but she could see nothing dressy.  
  
Marcus watched Erika as she dug through his closet. He wondered what she would choose. There was a relatively small selection; he was not fond of dressing up. Her hair was down, pulled back from her face by two blue butterfly clips, and a small frown of concentration had settled between her arching brows. Marcus admired her perfect features as he watched her look at his clothes, considering one shirt, and then putting it back in favor of another. Then she reached the back of his closet, and he smiled as she gasped in surprise.  
  
"Marcus, what is this?" Erika asked, pulling a beautiful, strapless dress from the closet.  
  
"A dress," Marcus said with a perfectly straight face.  
  
"But what is it doing in your closet?" Erika persisted, not put off by his teasing manner.  
  
"I thought you might like to wear it." He was serious now. "I should like you to accompany me tonight. If you want to that is," he added hastily. Erika gaped at him, then looked down at the dress.  
  
"I don't know what to say," she managed. "I... Yes. I will."  
  
  
  
Erika looked at herself in the mirror, admiring the dress. Marcus came up behind her and put his hands on her bare shoulders.  
  
"You look beautiful," he told her. "You'll be the most beautiful girl there."  
  
"Of course," Erika replied teasingly. "Lord Marcus deserves only the best." She smiled at him in the mirror, and he smiled back, but there was a question in his eyes. She turned to face him, his eyes searching her face for an answer. She didn't speak, only leaned forward, brushing her lips against his with a touch as light as a butterfly's.  
  
His arms encircled her waist, pulling her closer. Her arms went around his neck, fingers twining in his sun-gold hair.  
  
The kiss deepened; Marcus swept his tongue along her lips and she parted them to let him in. They pressed hard together, looking as though they were drinking each other into their souls. Marcus's hands moved from her waist and fumbled with her dress, trying to get it off her. Erika realized what would happen in she allowed this to continue now.  
  
"Marcus, we're going to be late to the party." She pulled back a little from his embrace.  
  
"Who gives a damn?" he said, moving towards her.  
  
"But how would it look? We can continue this later, after the party, I promise." Marcus sighed, disappointed, but he released her. She turned back to the mirror to fix her disheveled hair.  
  
When she was ready, they left Marcus's room, and descended the stairs to the banquet hall where the party would take place.  
  
"Who's going to be there?" Erika asked as they walked. "Other than the Council, I mean."  
  
"Probably the majority of vampires in England, if not Europe," Marcus replied sourly.  
  
"Not fond of them, I take it?"  
  
"Not really, no. Most of them are fops concerned only with getting more power, so they can move into higher social circles. Even the Council is like that. Viktor at least knew when to take action, even if the action was the wrong one."  
  
"Don't like Viktor either?"  
  
"He was too severe, too wrapped up in his hatred of the lycans. Enough to kill..." Marcus trailed off, remembering that not all the vampires knew about Sonja.  
  
"Kill who?" Erika asked, curious. Marcus stopped walking and turned to her.  
  
"Not everything an Elder says is true, Erika. Viktor spread lies about...how the war started, and Amelia and I had to go along with it, or we'd all look the fool. I'll tell you everything later. But now we're about to be late, thanks to your insistence on making out."  
  
"Excuse me, _milord_, but I seem to recall it differently. I remember you wanting to make out, and me wanting to get to the party."  
  
"How many times must I ask you not to call me that?" Marcus said, the heat in his voice making her shiver agreeably. He was about to kiss her, when a high female voice from a few stairs below said, "Lord Marcus, is that you?" Marcus pulled reluctantly away from Erika, and looked down to see a middle- aged looking vampire female with far too much makeup on, and badly bleached hair. Her dress, a tasteless thing of bright fuchsia, accompanied by a lime green handbag, hung limply from her bony shoulders and didn't cover her saggy arms.  
  
"My dear Lord Marcus," she said, her voice like nails on a chalkboard. "How are you?" She swaggered up to him in a way that told Erika that the woman clearly thought she was very attractive.  
  
"It's absolutely _wonderful_ to see you," the woman continued. "Why, I haven't seen you in two hundred years!"  
  
Duh, Erika thought. He's been asleep, dummy.  
  
"Lady Estella," Marcus said politely. "How nice to see you. You haven't aged a day since I last saw you."  
  
"Why, thank Marcus," Estella said, primping her bleached hair with one hand. "Oh, there's Alexander! If you'll excuse me Marcus, I really must go talk to him." Estella left, and walked across the room towards a young vampire in a black suit. When he saw her coming, he turned around quickly and tried to get away, but she caught hold of his arm and dragged him off, talking in his ear all the way.  
  
"Poor Alex," Marcus muttered sympathetically.  
  
"Who was that woman?" Erika asked.  
  
"Estella. Some idiot got drunk and turned her just after her fiftieth birthday. She's been caught up in the everybody-loves-me-because-it's-my- birthday mood for almost six centuries. Thankfully, she lives in Wales, so we only see her at the big parties, like this one." He shuddered involuntarily. "Come on, let's get something to eat, I'm starved."  
  
Erika threaded her arm through Marcus's and they headed back over to a table covered in human food and drink, as well as warm blood. They accepted glasses of the think ruby liquid from Mae, standing behind the table, and Marcus took her around through the room, introducing her to Council members and other important people as they sipped their blood.  
  
Erika listened with half an ear as Marcus offered condolences to Amelia's sister, Anna, when she caught a familiar scent. She stiffened as it filled her nostrils for a second and vanished as quickly as it had come. Marcus felt her stiffen beside him and quickly and politely disengaged them from Anna, and pulled her into a corner so they could talk in private.  
  
"What is it?" Marcus asked in a low voice. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Kraven," Erika whispered back. "He was here."  
  
"Are you sure?" he asked, sniffing the air and smelling nothing.  
  
"Positive."  
  
  
  
Selene was lost in her dream. She dreamt that she had never left Michael, and that he was kissing her. His warm mouth moved from her icy one to trace her jaw line with his lips, then moving down to her neck. As his fangs grazed her jugular, her own fangs elongated and she lowered her head to his neck, plunging her fangs into his skin. She drank greedily of the rich red liquid pouring from the wound until Michael collapsed beneath her teeth, dead and bloodless.  
  
She woke with a little cry and found tears on her face. She was clutching something hung about her neck. When she looked, she saw it was Lucian's—Sonja's—pendant, which she had taken the night in the tunnels. She lay down again and slowly let go of the necklace. But it was a long time before sleep came again.  
  
  
  
It was almost morning. All during the party, Marcus and Erika had looked, as inconspicuously as possible, for Kraven, but he seemed to have disappeared. At last, the party and the banquet with the Council members, was over, and Erika and Marcus went back upstairs to Marcus's room. Once inside, Marcus asked, "Are you sure Kraven was there?"  
  
"I'm positive Marcus," Erika insisted. "I smelled him. I don't know why you didn't; you were right next to me." She paused, then said, almost hesitiantly, "Your senses ought to be better than mine anyway." Marcus stiffened. "Marcus, you're a hybrid, aren't you?"  
  
Marcus couldn't meet her eyes as he asked, "Does it bother you?"  
  
Erika closed the distance between them and put her arms around his waist. "Not in the slightest." Marcus put his own arms around her.  
  
"I had hoped it wouldn't," he whispered before leaning down to kiss her deeply. And this time, when his hands moved to unfasten her dress, she let him.  
  
  
  
Marcus was awakened that evening by Erika slipping out of bed and looking for her clothes.  
  
"Where are you going?" Marcus groaned, getting out of bed.  
  
"I have work to do."  
  
"No, you don't."  
  
"Why wouldn't I? Because you and I slept together? That's hardly a reason that will satisfy Mae."  
  
"No, because I intend on making you my consort, and my consort should not have to do a servant's work."  
  
Erika gaped at him, and he added quickly, "If that's alright with you, of course. It is okay, isn't it?" Erika couldn't speak, only ran across the room to kiss him in her excitement.  
  
"I'll take that as a yes."  
  
  
  
A few weeks later, Erika decided to discuss something with Marcus that she had been sitting on for a few days now. Xavier had told her that, as long as she was in a position of power, they may as well use it to their advantage. She was to talk about Selene and try to get Marcus to agree to let her come back. Selene, already having experience in the field of spying and secrecy, would prove invaluable to the renegades, Xavier knew, and he wanted to get her in as soon as possible. When Marcus returned from his meeting, Erika would talk to him, even though she didn't want to, because it meant more secrets and more lies that she would have to keep from her hybrid lover, whom she was becoming more and more in loved with at each passing moment.  
  
  
  
"Selene, Xavier wants to talk to you," Kestral said, sticking her head into Selene's room, where she was experimenting with a photo enhancer.  
  
"Just a minute," Selene said, not looking up from her computer screen as she made the finishing touches on a picture Kestral had taken earlier that week. "Okay, all done." She stood up and followed the older vampire out of the room.  
  
Kestral lead Selene downstairs to Xavier's office. Selene went inside and Kestral waited outside.  
  
"Kestral said you wanted to see me?"  
  
"Yes," Xavier said, looking up from his desk, where he was examining a bunch of papers spread out all over the dark mahogany desk. "I just got word from Erika. Marcus wants you at the manor first thing tomorrow night. You are to go straight to him, and explain why you killed Viktor. If he finds your explanation satisfactory, then you will be pardoned, and allowed to live in the manor. If not, you will probably be sentenced to death, so have an escape plan in mind. Now go pack." Selene nodded, and left, her face expressionless, but inside she was thrilled. She had missed the manor where she had lived for nearly five hundred years, and she was glad to be going back.  
  
Kestral was waiting just outside the door. "Well?" she demanded.  
  
Selene grinned. "Erika did it. She convinced Marcus to let me come back. I just have to explain why I killed Viktor."  
  
"What will you tell him?" Kestral asked.  
  
Selene was silent for a long time, thinking. At last she said, "The truth."  
  
  
  
"He's in here," Erika said, gesturing to the door behind which Marcus waited to judge Selene.  
  
"Thank you Erika," Selene said. She put her hand on the doorknob, took a deep breath to gather her thoughts, and went inside.  
  
Marcus stood staring out the window, watching the half moon rise.  
  
"Milord? You wanted to see me as soon as I got here." Selene's voice was tentative. If it had been anyone else, it could have been called nervous.  
  
"Yes," Marcus said, his gaze not shifting from the sky. "Now tell me why you did what you did." His voice was flat, cold, free of all emotion.  
  
"He lied to me. About my family, about the war, about Sonja." Selene was watching Marcus carefully, and she saw him wince at the vampire princess's name. "He lied to me about my whole existence. And not just to me. To everyone. All the vampires, in all the covens. He lied to us all. And he wasn't the least bit sorry about it." She meant him killing Sonja, and Marcus knew it. "The war had to end, and the only way it would, was for him to die. So I killed him." She was silent, waiting for what Marcus would say. He turned from the window and looked into her eyes. She looked steadily back, not a trace of fear in her gaze as she looked at the vampire who could end her life with a single command.  
  
"And the hybrid? What of him?"  
  
"What about him? I have not seen him since that night, nor had any contact with him."  
  
Marcus frowned. She was telling the truth, he knew. His newly heightened sense could smell when someone was lying, and she was not. But there was something odd going on. If only he knew what.  
  
"Very well," he said, still frowning. "Erika will help you get settled in again."  
  
"Yes milord." Selene bowed and left the room. Erika had not left her post outside the door.  
  
"Well?" she demanded, in the same way Kestral had the previous night.  
  
"You are to help me get settled in," Selene told her.  
  
"So he pardoned you?" Erika said gleefully.  
  
"Not in so many words, but yes, I do believe he did. But I don't understand how you can love him; he's so cold."  
  
"He's never like that with me. But that's great that he pardoned you, Selene!"  
  
"I know. Now we can get Xavier some new weapons. Have you seen what the guns using? They might as well use swords for all the good it does!" Selene shook her head sadly. "It's almost pathetic really."  
  
"Is there ever a time when you _don't_ think about fighting," Erika asked, exasperated.  
  
"Nope."  
  
  
  
Selene woke feeling queasy. She'd been in the manor for a week now, and each night when she woke, she had to run to the bathroom to vomit. She sat up slowly, wary, ready to bolt to the bathroom should nausea overtake her other senses. She cautiously swung her feet out of bed, and stood. As she swayed on her feet, the smell of roses drifted into her room from the open window. As she scent entered her nostrils, the nausea hit.  
  
By the time she had emerged from the bathroom, she had decided that it was time to see the manor's doctor about this. Something weird was going on with her body, and she needed to find out what it was.  
  
  
  
The doctor, a short vampire with a balding gray head, was called Jarvis. He examined her thoroughly, then said, "Well, you're in perfect health, considering."  
  
Selene's stomach clenched. "Considering what?"  
  
  
  
Selene was in her car, driving. She didn't have a destination in mind, but she had to get away from the manor. From everything. Her mind was in turmoil. This could _not_ be happening. Not now, not to her. She didn't want to believe Jarvis's diagnosis, but it explained a lot. Her missed cycles, the sickness that controlled her evenings. But it couldn't be true. She hadn't done anything that would cause—but then she remembered. She had. She fumbled for her cell phone in the glove compartment. She found it and quickly dialed Kestral's number with fumbling fingers.  
  
"Hello?" Kestral's voice answered.  
  
"Kestral," Selene said desperately.  
  
"Selene," Kestral said in surprise. "What's the matter?"  
  
"Kestral, I'm..." She almost couldn't say it. "I'm pregnant."


	5. A Pregnant Spy and a Battle

A/N: I would like to start off by saying that if you haven't read the novelization of Underworld, you should. It's hysterical! However, it is not very exact when it comes to being correct in its dates. For starters, it says on the back the war has been raging for more than nine hundred years, and yet Lucian says that he and Sonja were in love in the fourteenth century, which is only six hundred years ago, and also during Marcus's reign. Just wanted to point that out. So I came up with a timeline of my own that fits all the details given in the movie and the book, and makes sense. Sonja was killed in the year 1227, during Viktor's reign. She was 259 at the time. 182 years later, during the Battle of the Alps in 1409, Lucian was "killed" by Kraven. Selene was turned in the year 1542 at the age of 22. Erika was turned in 1584 at the age of 19. That was all during Viktor's reign. I did another timeline of what has happened in the three manors (Ordoghaz/vampire manor, the lycan manor, and the renegade manor, which is not yet named) and I found that I have been somewhat lacking in lycan stuff. I am 55 days after Viktor's death in Ordoghaz, but in the lycan manor, it has only been nine days. So, I am going to try and catch the lycans up to the rest of the world in this chapter and the next one. I was going to do it all in this chapter, but I happened upon a great cliffy that I just had to use. So, without further ado, I give: CHAPTER 4! (By the way, I apologize in advance for the fight scenes. I'm really bad at writing them.) I'm too lazy to do a disclaimer, so if you're just dying to read one, refer to a previous chapter.  
  
Chapter 4: A Pregnant Spy and A Battle  
  
"She's _what_!" Xavier asked, incredulous.  
  
"Pregnant," Kestral repeated.  
  
"How is that possible?"  
  
"Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much," Kestral teased, grinning, and knowing she was embarrassing her younger commander.  
  
"That is _not_ what I meant, Kestral, and well you know it!" Xavier's face was a brilliant shade of crimson.  
  
"I'm not entirely sure; she wasn't very coherent when she called. A little shocked, I think. But I did gather that she gets a few days—or nights, rather—off next month. She'll come here then. I'm sure she'll explain everything."  
  
"This has got to be some kind of a joke," Xavier moaned, head in his hands.  
  
"I don't see what's so bad about it," Kestral said reasonably.  
  
"Think about it Kes. She's a spy. A _pregnant_ spy. Spies are supposed to be unobtrusive. Is there anything less unobtrusive than a pregnant spy? Oh, bloody hell," he added as the laptop on his desk began beeping incessantly. "What do you want?" The question, delivered in a moan, was directed at the computer.  
  
"It's out of battery," Kestral informed him.  
  
"Damn," Xavier muttered, looking around for the chord.  
  
"By your left foot," Kestral said helpfully. Xavier's head disappeared beneath the desk as he dived for it. He came up, triumphantly holding the chord in one hand just as the laptop gave one last loud and protesting beep before the screen went black.  
  
Xavier gave a shout of frustration and collapsed backward into his chair, running his fingers through his thick dark hair.  
  
"I told them I needed a new computer. I told them the battery was crap. I told them...Why me? Why do theses things always happen to me!"  
  
"Xavier, calm down. Everything will be fine; just calm down!"  
  
"I need a vacation," he moaned.  
  
  
  
"Erika, I have a present for you," Marcus said to her one morning a week after Selene's arrival and a month after the banquet. They were in their chambers, preparing to sleep though the daylight hours.  
  
He held out a little wrapped packaged. Erika took it and took off the paper that enclosed it, looking at Marcus speculatively, wondering what it could be. Under the paper there was a little box that looked like a jewelry box. And beneath the lid...  
  
"Oh!" Erika exclaimed. "It's beautiful!"  
  
Inside the box was a necklace very similar to Lucian's. It was crest shaped and adorned with an impossibly intricate Celtic design, with a dark sapphire in the center in the shape of an M. M for Marcus.  
  
Marcus lifted it out of the box and undid the clasp. Erika turned and held her hair out of his way as he fastened it around her neck.  
  
"This marks you as my consort," he told her. "It will allow you to go wherever you like in Ordoghaz." She faced him, smiling so happily that he had to kiss her. She melted in his embrace, a sweet happiness racing from his lips through her entire body. The kiss deepened, his tongue engaging hers in amorous combat. Her hands slipped under his shirt, feeling the lean muscle beneath his skin. He growled with pleasure and his mouth fell from her lips to her neck where his fangs scraped against her jugular, never breaking the skin.  
  
_This was so wonderful,_ Erika thought. She would miss it when it was over. Her experiences with Kraven had taught her that a man in power would not stay amused by a mere servant girl. She was still a little awed by the fact that Marcus, the oldest and undisputedly the most powerful of all the vampyres now that Viktor was dead, had chosen her to be his consort, no matter how long it lasted.  
  
They were on the bed now, Erika realized as she felt Marcus's soft sheets beneath her now bare back. how they had gotten there, she didn't really know. Or care.  
  
  
  
Marcus propped himself up on his elbow, watching Erika. She was so beautiful asleep. Her blond hair was spread out on the pillow almost like a hallo, framing her pale face. Her dark eyelashes contrasted sharply with her fair skin. His pendant hung around her neck, invisible under the covers, but the chain lay on her neck, the gold sparkling faintly in the dim light, a smile touched her lips as she turned in her sleep, caught in a dream. Her golden hair tumbled across her face. Gently, he brushed it away, and she woke at his soft touch.  
  
"Sleep well?" he asked. Erika smiled and nodded. She had had the most wonderful dream. She had dreamt that Marcus had made her his consort. She stretched a little and felt something shift around her neck. Looking down she saw the pendant from her dream.  
  
It wasn't a dream, she realized happily. She slipped her arms around Marcus's neck, pressing her lips to his. The passion rose quickly, as it always did. His lips wandered from hers, tracing the path to her neck with his mouth. As his fangs grazed her jugular, she sensed that he wanted to bite her.  
  
"You can, you know," she whispered huskily. In all the times they had made love, they had never shared blood, something Erika longed to do. His eyes changed from hazel to a crystalline shade of blue as his already abnormally sharp canines elongated into vampiric fangs. She tilted her head back, baring her throat for him. After glancing at her one more time to be sure this was all right, he sank his teeth into her creamy skin.  
  
Marcus moaned inwardly as Erika's naturally cool blood flowed into his mouth and down his throat. It had been such a long time since he had drank real blood. The cloned plasma that normally nourished the coven was tasteless in comparison to the tangy, metallic liquid that now coursed down his throat.  
  
After a few minutes, he forced himself to remember that he mustn't drink all of his consort's blood and pulled away, licking blood from his lips. When he looked at Erika, her lips were parted and her eyes were closed. When she felt that he was done, she opened her eyes, now an icy blue. Marcus titled his head, silently telling her that she could feast upon his blood, if she wished.  
  
She accepted his invitation, piercing his skin with her sharp fangs. Erika had never turned a human, nor sampled any of her fellow vampires' blood, and was extremely surprised by the delicious taste of the Elder's blood that filled her mouth and swamped her sense. She drank greedily for a few moments, before pulling her mouth away, embarrassed to be drinking the blood of an Elder.  
  
They resumed kissing, licking the remaining blood from each other's lips and mouth. Hands roamed, exploring familiar territory, and Erika hoped fervently that Marcus's interest in her would last longer than Kraven's.  
  
  
  
Michael walked down the stairs for his meeting with Raze. It had been a week since Viktor's death, and though he went out every night looking for Selene, he could not pick up her scent anywhere. It was as though she had vanished from the face of the earth.  
  
He wished he could find her. Though he had known her for only three days before she left, he missed her terribly, much more than he had ever missed René.  
  
He opened the door to the study where he was to meet Raze.  
  
"Michael," Raze said when his young leader walked in. "How was last night?"  
  
"Futile, as always," Michael replied with a sigh. He had returned to Frarkas Kikötõ, the lycan manor, long after midnight to collapse into bed and have his sleep haunted by the same terrifying dream that he could never remember.  
  
"Did you ever consider that maybe there's a reason for that?" Raze asked pointedly.  
  
Michael opened his mouth to reply hotly, then the implications of what Raze said sank in.  
  
"What are you implying?" he asked suspiciously. He and Raze disagreed strongly on the subject of Selene.  
  
"Nothing; I just think that maybe the reason you can't find her is because she doesn't want to be found."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"The night she left," Raze said, almost hesitantly, "I ran into her on her way out." He really didn't want to tell Michael this, but he needed to get his leader's attention focused on the lycans and not on that vampire bitch. "She asked me to make sure you stayed with us, instead of following her. She left for a reason, Michael, and she doesn't want you with her, wherever she's gone. We need you to concentrate on the lycans, not on her." Raze was blunt with his young and inexperienced commander. "The war is far from over, Michael, and we need you alert, and on our side." Michael nodded and sank into an armchair.  
  
"I'm sorry, Raze, it's just...I don't understand why she left. And seeing as it's the second time that a woman has left me, I'm starting to wonder if maybe there's something wrong with me." Raze said nothing, just raised an eyebrow inquisitively. Michael glanced at him and proceeded to explain about René.  
  
  
  
"Marcus," Erika said. They were still in bed, and dusk was not far off.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"You never told me about Viktor."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Remember, before the banquet you started to tell me about someone Viktor killed because of his hatred of the lycans." Marcus looked at her, surprised she had remembered, and wishing she hadn't.  
  
"Oh, it wasn't anyone important."  
  
"Don't avoid the question Marcus. Who did he kill?"  
  
Marcus sighed heavily. He really didn't want to tell his new consort about that part of his life, but he knew if he didn't tell, she would get someone else to.  
  
"His daughter. Sonja." By this point, Marcus was out of bed and looking for his clothes.  
  
"His daughter?" she squeaked in surprise. "Why?"  
  
"She was pregnant with that dog Lucian's child. Viktor feared a hybrid, so he had her burned alive."  
  
Erika said nothing for several minutes, trying to comprehend it.  
  
"You loved her, didn't you?" came her voice from the bed. Her words were whispered, almost too quietly for him to hear.  
  
Marcus froze in the middle of buttoning his shirt. How had she known? How had she guessed? He quickly resumed buttoning, and when he had finished, he turned to her.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Is that why you hate Viktor so much? Why you let Selene back into the manor, even though she killed an Elder? Because of Sonja? Because he killed her and Selene killed him?"  
  
"Yes. But now that I have you, it doesn't matter anymore." He bent and kissed her forehead. "I have to go; I have a meeting with the Death Dealers in a few minutes but I'll see you in the morning." He walked out the door, blowing her a kiss before he shut it, leaving her with much to think about.  
  
  
  
Michael followed Raze into the empty subway station. They were on the hunt, and the smell of their prey was strong. They had been tracking the Death Dealers for about an hour, and had finally caught up. Michael was anxious for the battle to begin. He couldn't wait to try out his hybrid form again, and relieve some of his stress and tension by doing some major Death Dealer ass-kicking.  
  
"They're in here," Raze said, his deep voice reverberating off the walls of the empty subway station. Michael looked around, trying to see the vampires he knew were hiding somewhere, and realized with a shock that it was the same subway station where he's first seen Selene. He felt a pang of loss as he remembered, wishing she was there with him.  
  
He glanced at Raze and saw that the big black lycan was already halfway through the change. Michael followed his example, and took off his shirt and threw himself into the change, half dreading it, remembering the pain that had accompanied his first change.  
  
But this time there was no pain as his skin darkened and his bones began to reconfigure themselves. His eyes changed, becoming the pitch-black of a hybrid, and his vision altering to the colorless world of the wolf.  
  
The transformation complete, he sniffed the air for any hint of his prey. There was one behind the pillar not 10 feet in front of him. He lunged towards the vampire and was met with three bullets slamming into his chest. Thanks to Selene's bite, the silver nitrate bullets didn't do any permanent damage, but they did hurt. He slashed at the hand holding the Death Dealer's gun and sent it spinning to the floor.  
  
The Death Dealer's eyes followed it, a look of terror on his face as his only weapon was torn from his grasp.  
  
Michael took advantage of the Dealer's inattention and slashed him across the chest with his sharp claws, cutting through the vampire's leathers and into his skin.  
  
The Dealer tried to jump back and dodge the hybrid's next blow, but Michael had anticipated him and moved forward, slashed with claws again, this time at the vampire's face. The Dealer threw a wild punch at Michael, which he easily dodged, and then leaped back trying to dodge the blow he thought was coming. But Michael had seen how close the vampire had come to the edge of the tracks, and feinted to one side, causing the vampire to fall off the platform and into the tracks. As he scrambled to his feet, angrily hissing and showing his fangs, a train whistle could be heard. The pale undead whirled and saw a bright light at the end of the tunnel.  
  
"Fuck," he swore, trying to scramble back up onto the platform. But he couldn't get up before the metro slammed into him, making a wet crunching noise as his body was crushed beneath the tracks. The human in Michael was sickened by the noise and his stomach reeled, but in his hybrid form the human was not in control.  
  
Michael glanced at Raze, and saw that the more experienced lycan had already dispatched two other Death Dealers and was now feasting on one of them. Michael approached cautiously. His prey had been smashed to bits by the train, and he wanted to share the meal, but knew that lycans might be more territorial in wolfen form than in human form. But Raze did not even look up from his meal as Michael approached. The hybrid dipped his head and began to tear off bits of flesh to devour.  
  
  
  
Just before they reached Farkas Kikötõ, Michael, who'd spent the walk back contemplating what he'd just done, was struck by a wave of nausea.  
  
_I just ate a vampire,_ he thought, and ran over to retch behind a tree.  
  
  
  
Michael woke with the now-familiar dry throat and sweaty skin that nearly always accompanied the dream.  
  
_20 damn nights now_, he thought, swinging his legs out of bed and stretching. Every night since Viktor's death he had had the dream.  
  
_You'd think I'd remember the stupid thing.  
_  
He showered and dressed, and was about to head down stairs for his morning meeting with Raze when a knock sounded on his door.  
  
"Come in," he called from the bathroom, where he was inspecting his damp brown hair and wondering if he should cut it.  
  
A serving girl opened the door. "A letter for you, master."  
  
"A letter?" Michael's heart leapt; maybe it was from Selene. He wondered what her handwriting looked like. But when he took the envelope from the girl, the writing he saw was not the unfamiliar style that may or may not have been Selene's, but the all-too-familiar flowing script of René.  
  
  
  
Michael sat in the driver's seat of a silver Viper, the wind streaming in through the open windows, ruffling his long hair. It had been five days since he had received René's letter and it was nearly midnight. There were probably vampires all over the place, but Michael did not particularly care. He needed to clear his head.  
  
He was over René; there was no doubt about that. But what they had had together had been wonderful and he did miss it. And then there was Selene. He definitely wanted to have that with the icy vampiress, but how long could he wait for her? René wanted him to take her back, according to her letter. Could he really give up any chance he might yet have with the pale, beautiful, immortal, British vampiress that was Selene to go back to his needy American wife? 


	6. Not Over Yet

A/N: I want to start off this A/N by thanking all my wonderful reviewers, especially Moose (vampirehuntr00) and iridescent eyes. Also to Chronicles Bailey, because your review made my day. And made me decided that I have kept the cliffy going long enough, and it is time to post the next chapter. I bet you're just dying to find out if Michael and René get back together, so I'll shut up now and let you read.  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing, except my original characters, please don't sue!  
  
  
  
Chapter 5: Not Over Yet  
  
"Kraven, I'm going to kick your ass!" Michael shouted at the vampire, just before transforming. He had met the traitorous vampire on his way back to Farkas Kikötõ and instantly recognized him as the bastard who shot him in the sewers before his fight with Viktor.  
  
Kraven took the opportunity that Michael's transformation presented to pull out his gun and fire a round into the hybrid's chest. The silver stung, but Michael ignored the sharp pain and his transformation continued.  
  
Once fully in hybrid form, he roared at Kraven. What little blood was left in the pale undead's face left it, and he turned and ran, thrusting his gun into the inside of his jacket.  
  
_Oh no you don't,_ Michael thought. _You're not getting away that easy!_ Using his newly developed hybrid speed, Michael raced after Kraven, catching up quickly. Kraven stopped as he found his path impeded by a large, blue hybrid and started at Michael, his face paler than normal and his eyes wide with terror.  
  
"How in the hell...?" he began to say, but before he could complete the question, Michael slammed his clawed fist into Kraven's chin.  
  
"Fuck," Kraven swore as the razor sharp claws dug four deep lines into his face. "If this scars, I'll kill you! Without my perfect face, how will I get Selene to fall in love with me?"  
  
It was the wrong thing to say.  
  
  
  
Half an hour later, Michael stalked back to his car, wiping Kraven's blood of his clothes. Despite the heavy beating Michael had given him, Kraven was still alive. Though Michael had eaten someone only two weeks ago, he still held onto his humanity, which wouldn't let him kill Kraven. But he had battered the vampire bloody; Kraven wouldn't be bedding anyone anytime soon. Particularly not Selene.  
  
When he arrived at Farkas Kikötõ, there was another letter from René waiting for him. Nothing she had to say improved his mood.  
  
  
  
Each night, Michael dreamed the dream that he could never remember, but terrified him to his core, and each morning, he tired in vain to recall.  
  
But this night was different. Tonight, as he tossed and turned in his sleep, he dreamed a dream that he longed to be real, and yet frightened him to his very core. And when he woke, he would remember.  
  
  
  
_Michael opened the door to his rooms and smiled when he saw Selene was awake. She was sitting at her desk comparing something on her laptop screen to a pad of paper beside her. Her hair was tousled and she appeared to have just woken up.  
  
"Morning sweetheart," he said, even though it was seven in the evening. He kissed her cheek as he sat down beside her.  
  
"Morning," she replied absently. Michael looked at her laptop to see what was consuming so much of her attention, and saw that it was a solitaire game. On the notepad, she had drawn out the game and was trying to figure out her next move.  
  
"Move the seven onto the eight," he told her, even though his sleeping self was shouting at his dreaming self, This is ridiculous! Selene doesn't play solitaire! She was... but there she was, in his dream, moving the seven of hearts onto the eight of spades. Somehow, this caused a smiley face to pop up and say, "You've won!" over and over again.  
  
"That's why I love you," Selene said silkily, sliding her arms around his neck.  
  
"Because I win solitaire games?" Dream Michael asked while Sleeping Michael thought, This is beyond ridiculous.  
  
"Because you're so smart," she corrected, kissing him, and the passion between them rose quickly, tongues gliding in and out of the kiss. Michael slipped his arms around her waist and she moaned as he sucked on her neck. Suddenly, there was a sharp pain on the side of his neck, and he realized that it was Selene's teeth puncturing his skin. He let her drink, not even struggling against her as she slowly drank every last drop of his blood. At that point, Sleeping Michael detached himself from Dream Michael and watched in horror as the love of his life drank his life from him.  
  
_  
  
When Michael woke, the terror of the dream had not lessened, though when his waking mind remembered, it was not with the mindless terror that his subconscious did. In fact, it seemed more ridiculous than anything else. Especially the solitaire game. With a sigh, he lay back down and went to sleep.  
  
  
  
Michael woke when Raze hammered loudly on his door. Groaning, he rolled over and buried his face in the pillow, muttering, "Five more minutes." The dream had not returned since that night he had remembered it for the first time, and he had treasured the last ten dreamless nights.  
  
"Michael, get up!" Raze said through the door. "There's a phone call for you."  
  
_A phone call?_ Michael sat up, confused. He hadn't known that Farkas Kikötõ _had_ a phone. Everyone used their cell phones if they need to make a phone call, which was very rare.  
  
He got up, adjusting his pants and not bothering to put on a shirt before he opened the door. Raze led him down a series of hallways until he was thoroughly lost. At the end of one hallway was a perfectly normal-looking corded telephone.  
  
_Well, I'll be damned,_ Michael thought.  
  
"Hello?" he said, picking it up.  
  
"Michael?" a familiar voice on the other end of the line asked.  
  
"René?" he exclaimed. "How the fuck did you get this number? I don't even have this number!" _I didn't even know we had a phone,_ he added to himself, but didn't feel the need to share that thought with René.  
  
"Would you like it?" René asked.  
  
"Why are you calling me, René?" Michael asked in a resigned voice.  
  
"I want you back, Michael."  
  
"Did Kraven put you up to this?" he asked suspiciously.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Never mind. Why are you calling me?"  
  
"I told you, I want you back."  
  
"Surely René, you can't think I'm still in love with you! Not even you can be that dense! It's been three years since you left me without so much as a goodbye, much less an explanation! I've moved on, René, so should you."  
  
"But Michael, I—"  
  
"No buts, René! I don't want you back. Not now, not ever! You may as well get used to it!" He hung up. He was furious, both with René and with himself. Why did she have to call _now?_ Now, when he was not only in love with another woman, but not even human anymore.  
  
_Why me?_ he thought to himself. _Why is it always me?  
_  
He looked around for Raze, but the large black lycan was gone.  
  
_Of course.  
_  
Michael hoped he would be able to find his way back to his room through the twisting passages of Farkas Kikötõ by himself.  
  
  
  
"Dammit, why won't she leave me alone!" Michael yelled as he saw yet another letter from René sitting on his desk. In the week since the phone call, Michael had received a letter from his wife nearly everyday. Evidently, she had not taken his not-so-subtle hint over the phone, though her letters had gotten much more desperate in the last weeks.  
  
Raze didn't even glance up from the gun he was cleaning.  
  
"I'm going for a drive," Michael snapped, grabbing his keys. Raze nodded absently, still not looking up, as Michael stormed from the room. He had had a long day trying to find out what the vampires were up to, and the letter from René had been the final straw.  
  
He jammed the keys into the ignition and started the car. He lowered the roof of his Viper to let the wind blast full force onto his face, heedless of the storm that had been brewing all day. He drove quickly, not paying attention to where he was going. He didn't know how long he'd been driving, only that night had fallen, when he realized that he was outside the gates to Ordoghaz.  
  
_Shit,_ he thought, putting the car in reverse and turning around to be sure he didn't hit anything. And when he turned, he saw a figure standing behind the car. Directly above the figure was the cloud-covered gibbous moon. It was going to rain soon. He put the top back up and got out of the car to face the figure, taking off his shirt in case he had to fight.  
  
"Michael," the figure said as the rain began to fall. A lightning strike lit the scene, and Michael could see that the figure was around six feet tall, with light hair and eyes. His skin had a golden tan, though Michael's nose told him that the man was a vampire. The vampire stepped forward as he continued to talk. "It's nice to meet you at last. Our intelligence service has been absolutely abuzz with news of you." As the vampire drew nearer, Michael amended his early classification. This man was not just a vampire. He was a hybrid...and an Elder.  
  
Marcus.  
  
"What do you want Marcus?" Michael asked. He could see the Elder's eyes were turning black as the change began to take over. He allowed his own body to begin the shift into its other form.  
  
"The extermination of your species," Marcus said with a growl just before the final part of the transformation occurred and speech became impossible. Michael was only a step behind, his body already blue and his skeleton reforming itself.  
  
Marcus struck first, his body full of a grace and power Michael had never seen before. He roared in pain as the other hybrid's claws caught him across the chest. He lashed out with his own claws, but only swiped at the air as the older hybrid jumped back. He swung again, this time catching Marcus across the cheek with the tip of one claw. The fight had begun.  
  
Marcus was harder to fight than Viktor. He was older than Michael, and though he was less experienced with his hybrid form, he was still a much better fighter. Michael no longer had the advantage. Marcus was also not blinded by hate and rage, as Viktor had been. He fought, not for his life, but for pleasure. For he was enjoying the fight immensely, as Michael could see. The thought horrified him, and that caused him to hesitate long enough for Marcus to gain the upper hand.  
  
Michael lay on the ground, bleeding from several cuts on his chest, back, and face. Marcus raised his hand to deliver the killing blow when a voice came floating across the driveway from the entrance of Ordoghaz.  
  
"Marcus? Marcus, are you out here?" Footsteps crunched on the gravel as the speaker came towards them. Then a gasp as whoever-it-was saw the condition of both Marcus and Michael.  
  
"Oh my God," the woman said.  
  
"Erika, it's not how it looks," Marcus said, back in human form.  
  
"Get inside and clean yourself up," she ordered, as if she had some power over him. But she evidently did, for a few moments later Michael could hear the Elder's footsteps on the gravel. He tried to pick himself up off the ground, but found that he couldn't; it was too painful. The woman, the vampire, he corrected himself, knelt beside him. His eyes were closed from the pain, but she spoke.  
  
"Michael, Michael, wake up." His eyes opened, and he saw the same levitating blonde woman who had wanted to turn him the one night he spent in Ordoghaz. "I'm going to get Selene; stay right here." As if he could go anywhere, even if he wanted to. But the mention of Selene rooted him to the ground as securely as actual roots.  
  
  
  
_Selene is going to kill me,_ Erika thought as she rushed through the hallways of Ordoghaz to the Death Dealer's rooms. She knocked hastily and entered without waiting for an answer. Inside, Selene was starring blankly at her laptop, lost in a solitaire game that she was clearly loosing. She looked up as Erika burst into the room.  
  
"What are you doing in—," she started to say, but Erika interrupted.  
  
"No time. It's Michael. He's hurt and he needs your help." Erika couldn't explain, even to herself, why she thought Selene could help the hybrid, but she knew that Selene was the only one who would.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Selene demanded as she and Erika hurried downstairs and outside.  
  
"Michael and Marcus got into a fight and Marcus won. He's lucky I showed up when I did. Marcus was about to kill him when I came." Selene didn't want to believe that Michael, who had so easily defeated Viktor, had lost to Marcus, but as she saw Michael's bleeding form on the gravel, she knew it was true.  
  
"God dammit," she whispered under her breath. Heedless of the rain, she knelt beside him, turning him onto his back and laying his head in her lap. He moaned in pain as she shifted him, but remained unconscious. "Michael, Michael wake up. Michael, you can't die on me now!" His eyelids fluttered, and he looked up into her eyes.  
  
"Selene? Is that you?" She nodded, tears of gratitude mixing with the rain on her face. He was alive!  
  
"Come on," she said coaxingly. She helped him to his feet and into the passenger side of the car. "Tell Marcus I took Michael to the hospital," she said to Erika. Erika nodded. Selene put the car into gear and drove out of Ordoghaz.  
  
"Where's the lycan hideout these days?" she asked Michael. He told her and she began to drive there. After a few minutes, Michael asked, "Why did you leave?"  
  
"I had to. Why did you come back?"  
  
"I don't know," he replied truthfully.  
  
"Well don't come here again. Next time you won't be so lucky. Marcus will kill you if you come again. Not even Erika will be able to stop him. Got it?" He nodded glumly. "Good. Now go to sleep. Those wounds won't heal if you don't get some rest." Michael nodded again, content to let sleep claim him, for once again, Selene was with him.  
  
  
  
Selene rang the doorbell of the huge manor that Michael had said the lycans lived in. A young girl answered the door.  
  
"I need to speak to Raze. It's important."  
  
"I'm sorry," the girl said. "But Raze doesn't associate himself with _vampires_." She spat the word as if it were a curse word. Selene pulled out one of her Berettas and placed it against the girl's forehead  
  
"Well now he does. Go get him. Now." The girl shut the door and Selene heard her feet running to get, hopefully, Raze.  
  
A few minutes, Raze answered the door, gun in hand. He lowered in when he saw who it was.  
  
"What are you doing here?" he demanded.  
  
"It's Michael. He's hurt. I need help getting him inside." She gestured towards the car, where Raze could see Michael slumped against the window, bare chest covered in blood.  
  
"Alright," Raze said. He followed Selene out to the car. She opened the door and he picked up Michael in his huge arms. Selene followed him into the manor and when Raze laid Michael on a huge bed she presumed was his, she said, "I'll take it from here. Thank you." Raze nodded and left, though he was obviously confused as to why he was allowing the vampire into the house, let alone to take care of his leader. But he did as she asked.  
  
Selene gathered some cloths and warm water from the bathroom, and began to clean the blood of his chest and face. He didn't stir as she gently bathed his face in the warm water, rinsing the caked blood off. Once he was clean, she watched him sleep, hoping he wouldn't wake. She needed to be gone when he woke, or else she wouldn't be able to find an excuse to leave. Not one that he would accept. Not that she wanted to leave, especially now that she knew she was carrying his child. But still, she knew she had to. She was a vampire and he was a hybrid. She swept her eyes over him one last time, slowly taking in his handsome features, muscular chest and arms, and the smoothness of his skin. She gently caressed his cheek, her other hand on her stomach, whispered, "I love you," and left the room.  
  
Raze was waiting outside. He escorted her to the taxi he had called and opened the door for her. He told the driver where to take her, then turned and went back inside.  
  
  
  
"What the hell happened?" Erika demanded of Marcus after Selene left.  
  
"We got into a fight," Marcus said with a shrug. At that moment, with Marcus sitting in a chair with his shoulders hunched and Erika standing over him with her hands on her hips, they looked very much like a mother and her disobedient child.  
  
"Explain."  
  
"Well, um, I was out for a little walk and he showed up and we got into a fight. That's all." Erika raised an eyebrow as if to say that she doubted it.  
  
"It's true!" Marcus insisted.  
  
"Why did you fight him?" Erika sounded a little exasperated.  
  
"Because he's a lycan, and I'm a vampire."  
  
"You're both hybrids!" Erika exclaimed.  
  
"But he was a lycan first, and lycans and vampires are natural enemies."  
  
"Marcus, listen to me. _Viktor is dead_. The war is _over._ Don't provoke the lycans. Please."  
  
"The war isn't over, Erika. It will never be over. The hatred goes too far back. I'm sorry I worried you, but if we are to exterminate the lycans, we must kill off the leader. And right now, that's Michael."  
  
  
  
"Is he going to be okay?" Erika asked Selene later that night.  
  
"He'll be fine." Selene said shortly. She was down in the dojo, firing round after round into the ceramic bust used as a target. "Why do you care?" She put her gun down and looked at the younger vampire beside her.  
  
"Because I know how it is to be in love. I know how I would feel if I lost Marcus."  
  
"I've already lost Michael," Selene said, her tone void of all emotion. She picked up her gun again and resumed fire on the bust. Nothing Erika could have said would have comforted her, so she said nothing.  
  
  
  
Michael slept in late the next morning. When he woke, he stretched languidly. He'd had the best dream. He had dreamt that he had gotten into a fight with Marcus and Selene had tended his wounds. Wishing he could go back to sleep, he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He glanced at his watch. 12:30.  
  
_Crud,_ he thought as he hurried to get dressed. As he pulled his shirt over his head, his muscles screamed in pain.  
  
_What the...? _He looked down at himself. There were scars that had not fully healed on his chest. There were a few on his face as well. _Was it a dream?_ He glanced over at the bed and saw that his sheets were bloody in a few places. _Was I really in a fight last night?_ He had assumed it was a dream because there was no way that Selene would have taken him back to Farkas Kikötõ. Would she? He had to find Raze. In his dream, the huge black lycan had carried him to his room where Selene had tended his wounds.  
  
He found Raze in the armory, inspecting guns.  
  
"Uh, Raze," Michael began, unsure how to phrase the question. "Was Selene here last night?"  
  
"Yes. She brought you here after your fight with Marcus, then left."  
  
"Do you know why she left?"  
  
"Because she's a vampire," Raze said as if it were obvious, which to him and Selene, it was. But Michael was still young, not to mention extremely clueless.  
  
"Oh. Um, thanks." Michael left the armory. His dream had been real. But why, then, had Selene left again? He remembered what she had said in the car, "I had to." What had she meant by that? 


	7. Staying True

A/N: This is kinda short, but I'm tired and my muse seems to have abandoned me. I think she's still mad about Lucian being dead in the movie, even if he's not dead in my fic. So it may be a bit until chapter 7, which I think will be funny, but I don't really know because I have no idea how I'm going to write it. I realize I'm rambling so I'll stop and let you read.  
  
Disclaimer: own nothing except plot and OCs. Everything else belongs to Sony, Len Wiseman, Kevin Grivoux, blah blah blah. I hate writing these things. Don't sue. K?  
  
  
  
Chapter 6: Staying True  
  
"I don't get it," Erika complained as she shut the door to their rooms.  
  
"What?" Marcus asked, looking up from the letter he was writing to the New World Coven, a puzzled expression on his face.  
  
"Selene. No one seems to care that until last week, she was a traitor, and now she, the murderer of Viktor, is living among us. And no one gives a damn!"  
  
"Oh. That." Marcus put down his pen. He sighed, not wanting to admit to Erika that he had lied to his subjects again, knowing what she would think. "Well, you see, there's a perfectly good reason for that. You see, well, I uh..."  
  
"You didn't tell them." It wasn't a question.  
  
"No."  
  
"Why not? Haven't you lied enough? Don't you think they deserve to know the truth? What did you tell them anyway?"  
  
"I said it was a lycan." Erika sighed, plopping down in an armchair, her feet thrown over one arm.  
  
"Marcus, I understand you hate them. But you can't keep blaming them for everything! The war is over! Lucian is dead! Why don't you tell them the truth?"  
  
"What do you want me to say Erika?" He stood and began to pace. "If I tell them the truth, they'll want to know why she killed him. They were like father and daughter; she wouldn't have killed him without a very good reason. So then what do I say? That we've been lying to them for nearly a century? That'll go over _real _well. They'll wonder what else we've been lying about and probably revolt. Or I could say Viktor's daughter was murdered, not by lycans, but by her father. Or I could tell them that the lycans have the advantage now because they have a hybrid that they don't have to keep secret from the rest of the coven! Every single one of those things would cause a panic. If we are to win this war, we must have the full support of our people behind us, even though it means lying to them about certain things."  
  
Erika sighed. "I understand your reasoning, but I think you're wrong. They deserve to know. Promise me you'll tell them when the war is over?"  
  
"Anything for you, my dear." He stepped closer and braced himself on the chair, leaning over for a kiss.  
  
  
  
_Only six more days,_ Selene told herself. She only had six more days until she got her night off and she could go talk to Kestral and Xavier. She reloaded her Berettas and began firing another round into the ceramic bust.  
  
"You alright?" Kahn asked, making her jump. She hadn't noticed his arrival. He was leaning against a pillar, and looked as though he had been there for some time.  
  
"Fine. Just thinking." There was a pause, then she put down her gun and turned to the older weapons master. "Can I ask you something?"  
  
"Shoot," Kahn said. Then he glanced at her pale hand still on the handle of her gun. "Actually, on second thought, don't."  
  
Selene's mouth turned up slightly in a ghost of a smile. "How many Death Dealers know the truth about me?"  
  
"None."  
  
"None?"  
  
"Marcus doesn't want it known."  
  
With a confused, "Oh," Selene picked up her weapon and resumed fire on the ceramic bust.  
  
  
  
Selene drove out of the Ordoghaz driveway in her new Jaguar, heading towards the renegade manor. She picked up her cell phone and dialed Kestral's number.  
  
"Hello?" an irritated Scottish voice answered.  
  
"I'm on my way," Selene told Kestral.  
  
"Good." Without another word, Kestral hung up.  
  
_Wonder what's put her in such a foul mood?_ Selene thought, putting her cell phone away.  
  
  
  
"Look, Xavier, I don't know who the father is!"  
  
"You must have some idea! She confides in you, doesn't she?"  
  
"Not really!" The conversation, which had begun only a few minutes ago in normal tones, was being carried on in Xavier's office at the top of both participants lungs, causing the vampires outside the office to all be feigning oblivion to the arguing voices of their commanders, and all were hoping that nothing had gone seriously wrong.  
  
"I didn't tell her anything about me, and she didn't tell me anything about her! We both have our secrets, Xavier." She paused, then added, much quieter, and slightly more prim, "besides, I don't think its any of your business who the father is."  
  
"You're thinking of this in terms of a woman, Kes. Try thinking of it in terms of a soldier. If the father is one of Marcus's vampires, then when we make our attack on him and his underlings, she might hesitate, maybe even switch sides. That's something we simply cannot have her do. Or she could warn him. And if he's one of ours, while it will strengthen her tie to our cause, but she'll have to find some explanation to give the Ordoghaz vampires. She's supposed to be strictly loyal to Marcus, so she, by Ordoghaz's rules, should be pregnant with an Ordoghaz vampire's child. But if he's one of ours, no one will claim the child, and someone will figure it out. So she may end up having to keep it a secret, though I don't know how you do that. I suppose you could help her."  
  
"Me?" Kestral said, surprised. "Why me?" She had no objection to helping Selene, but was curious as to why Xavier thought she could.  
  
"You had to keep your pregnancy a secret, didn't you?"  
  
"Uh, no."  
  
  
  
As Selene pulled into the drive, Kestral was waiting for her. Selene guessed by the dark clouds in her eyes that she had Xavier had been fighting when Selene had called, and the argument had not gone well.  
  
Selene got out of her car and walked over to Kestral. The red-haired Scots woman noticed that the Death Dealer was still wearing her latex suit, despite the child growing within her, and her long black trench coat, which billowed behind her in a small wind that also brushed her raven hair from her face.  
  
"How are you feeling?" Kestral asked when Selene was within earshot.  
  
"Okay," Selene said as they turned towards the manor. "Other than the morning sickness. Or evening sickness, really."  
  
"Have the cravings started yet?"  
  
"Cravings?"  
  
"Most people, especially vampires, get weird cravings when they're pregnant, for things like cow tongue, liver and onion, and tripe." She names a few things she had craved during her pregnancy, so many years ago.  
  
"Tripe? Do people actually eat tripe?" Selene had found the food disgusting when she has human; it was even more disgusting now.  
  
"I did. Once."  
  
"Ew!" She paused, and then her voice took a more serious note. "What did you tell Xavier?"  
  
"Just that you were pregnant. He's in a bit of a bad mood right now, so be careful. Oh, and that reminds me, if he asks you how it happened..." She leaned over to whisper something in Selene's ear, and Selene bent her head to listen, and when Kestral finished, the two were wearing twin grins.  
  
  
  
"Xavier, she's here," Kestral said, knocking on the doorframe as she entered his office. Xavier looked up, glanced at his solitaire game, then closed it.  
  
"So," he said, standing and looking Selene straight in the eye. "You want to tell me how this happened?"  
  
Struggling to keep a straight face, Selene said, "Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much—"  
  
"Kestral!" Xavier exclaimed, glaring at his lieutenant, who was laughing hysterically, then back at Selene, who was also laughing.  
  
"Just trying to lighten the air a bit," Kestral said, getting her laughter under control. Xavier looked at the ceiling, mouthed something that looked like "Why me?" and then turned his attention back to Selene.  
  
Selene, whose hormones were a bit out of control as a result of the pregnancy, was having supreme difficulty keeping a straight face as Xavier looked at her. He gestured for her to sit in the chair facing his desk, and sat down in his own chair.  
  
"Let me rephrase that: how could you let this happen?"  
  
Selene's good mood evaporated in an instant. One of those mood swings pregnant women are famous for, going back to the hormone thing, took over, and she was suddenly very mad.  
  
"I didn't do this on purpose Xavier!" she almost shouted. "It's not like I thought to myself, oh I'll go get pregnant, just to piss Xavier off! I was not planning on this pregnancy. The thought never even crossed my mind. But I am pregnant and now we have to deal with it."  
  
Xavier sighed and rubbed his temples as if he had a headache.  
  
"Whose is it?" he asked resignedly.  
  
Selene stiffened.  
  
"I don't see what business it is of yours," she said tartly. Xavier sighed.  
  
"I already explained this to Kes. How about you go with her and talk about whatever it is women talk about and you tell me before you leave." Selene nodded and followed Kestral out of the office.  
  
  
  
Inside Kestral's room, Selene paced incessantly, causing her coat to flap behind her with the wind of her passage.  
  
"What's got you so agitated?" Kestral asked from her position draped across a chair, legs flung over on side, head hanging down over the other.  
  
"What will I tell the Ordoghaz vampires? There's no way I can tell them whose baby it is. It'll get me killed for sure. And him as well."  
  
"Whose is it?" Kestral asked quietly, sitting up and looking at Selene, who had stopped by the window. Selene didn't answer, only bit her lip and started fiddling with something around her neck.  
  
"Is he one of ours?" Kestral persisted. Selene shook her head. Kestral frowned in confusion, then she remembered something from the night Selene had run across them in the safe house. Selene had been covered in a scent curiously similar to that of a lycan. Kestral had dismissed it as something from the battle. But now, now that she knew that the father couldn't be an Ordoghaz vampire, nor was he a renegade, she thought that maybe the father wasn't a vampire at all.  
  
"Is he a lycan?" Selene turned sharply to look at Kestral, her face sharp and angry, but her expression softened and she looked back out the window.  
  
"Not exactly," she said slowly. "He's a hybrid, a descendant of Corvinus. Lucian...turned him lycan. And Kraven shot him the night Viktor died. I had to bite him, turn him, to save him from the silver in the bullets. Then I killed Viktor, to save him. After that...well..." she trailed off, a smile in her eyes, though not on her lips, as she remembered what had happened after. "But Lucian died and he had to lead the lycans. They needed him and they never would have accepted him if I had come too. So I left. He's probably forgotten about me. He's probably with some pretty lycan girl, who can give him the love he wants. I wish..." she seemed to want to say something, but changed her mind before it came out. "Sometimes I wish Lucian weren't dead. I wish Sonja had never died. That this whole stupid war had never happened, my family was still alive, and I was a normal human. But then I think that if I wasn't a vampire, I never would have met Michael, and I'm glad that it did." She turned to Kestral, a sad smile on her face, and noticed Kestral had gone rigid at the mention of Sonja, and that she was now staring at the thing Selene held in her hand.  
  
"Where did you get that?" she said, her voice barely more than a whisper.  
  
"What, this?" Selene said, looking at the crest-shaped pendant she was fingering. It was the same pendant Lucian had worn, the same pendant Sonja had worn, the same pendant Selene had taken the night of the battle, intending to give it to Michael, but forgetting in the excitement of their making love. "I took it from Lucian's body the after the battle. Why?"  
  
"Can I see it?" Kestral said in a choked voice, not answering the real question. Wordlessly, Selene took it off and handed it to her. Kestral examined it closely, fighting the horrible memories that came back to her. Memories she had made herself forget until that very moment. As the images flashed through her mind, she found that she was no longer sitting in the chair, but was in Ordoghaz, reliving some of the worst and best times of her long life.  
  
_She saw Viktor as he leaned down to kiss her, his hand on her slightly swollen belly.  
_  
_A scream was torn from her lips as another contraction wracked her body. Viktor held her hand and whispered encouragement into her ear as her best friend Endainme En'Dae, acting as midwife, cried, "I can see the head!"  
_  
_She saw the image of Endainme En'Dae as she placed the babe in her arms, asking, "What will you name her?"  
  
"Sonja."  
  
She saw Viktor as he told her that now that her niece had been turned into a lycan, he couldn't allow her to raise little Sonja anymore; she might give the girl lycan sympathies.  
_  
_The last image she saw was the blackened and burned body of her only daughter, her only child, the pendant she had worn everyday since her 100th birthday missing from its place around her neck. Kestral had given her that pendant on the day she had told her daughter who her mother was.  
_  
When she came back to herself, she found her cheeks streaked with tears, the pendant clutched tightly to her, and Selene kneeling beside her asking what was wrong.  
  
"This pendant," Kestral said through her tears, looking at the pendant in her hand and fingering it lovingly, "belonged to my daughter. Sonja."  
  
  
  
Selene sped towards Ordoghaz, thinking over everything Kestral had told her. So she was Sonja's mother. That explained why she was renegade at least. And why she had reacted so strongly to the sight of the pendant, which Selene had told her to keep, because it wasn't really hers. It had belonged to Lucian, and to Sonja, and Selene thought that Kestral had more claim to it than Selene did. Selene didn't even know why she had kept it. She had meant to give it to Michael, but she had forgotten. She glanced at her watch, increasing her speed. She had an appointment with the Death Dealer field doctor. He wanted to be sure she hadn't done any damage to the baby in the time she before she had known she was pregnant. He doubted she had, but wanted to be sure.  
  
The doctor's name was Jake and he had been apprenticed to the Ordoghaz doctor, Jarvis, who had first told her about her pregnancy. Selene went to Jake now because it would be the perfect opportunity to start spreading the rumor that Kraven was the father of her child. Selene wasn't happy about the idea, but Xavier had insisted. It would be easy to believe, he thought. Jake did not know Selene very well, and so would easily believe her when she told him who the father was. And hopefully, he would be able to convince others.  
  
Selene parked her car in the drive and headed inside, walking quickly up the stairs to the dojo, which was next to Jake's office, ignoring the disapproving glares the vampires in the lounge gave her as she walked through. When she reached Jake's office, she knocked loudly and entered without waiting for permission.  
  
Jake looked up from the blood sample he was looking at under a microscope and smiled at her. He was tall, with light brown hair and blue-gray eyes. He was Nathaniel's brother, and the family resemblance was strong.  
  
"Selene, good to see you. Have a seat." He gestured to the cold table in the center of the room and Selene sat down on it, ignoring the chill that seeped through her leathers.  
  
"I'll need you to roll your shirt up," he said, blushing a little under his tan.  
  
Mentally rolling her eyes a little, Selene took off her jacket, swiftly unlaced her corset, and rolled up the hem of her shirt. Jake puts on his stethoscope and put the cold metal against the skin of her still flat stomach. Selene jumped a little at the coldness of it and Jake smiled apologetically at her, and turned his attention back to her stomach. He listened, and moved the stethoscope around a few times, before smiling up at her.  
  
"Everything seems fine to me," he told her.  
  
"Good." Selene said.  
  
"Mind if I ask you a personal question?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Who's the father?"  
  
"Kraven." Jake's eyes widened and Selene said, "It wasn't exactly my idea. I wasn't planning on getting drunk and sleeping with him, nor was I planning on getting pregnant. But now I am, and I just have to deal with it."  
  
"I see," Jake said, standing, and looking into her eyes. His hand was on her bare stomach and he didn't move it when he stood.  
  
_He is kind of cute,_ Selene thought, _but he's no Michael. But I do need to move on. Michael probably has.  
_  
And so, when he leaned in to kiss her, she let him. She let him ease his lips gently over hers, let his tongue flick over hers, and even responded in kind. She pushed the memories of Michael to the back of her mind and let Jake kiss her. But when his hand on her stomach began to move upward, the memories of Michael's hands on her came rushing back to her, and she pulled away.  
  
"Jake, I'm sorry," she said. "But I can't. I—I can't." She rolled down her shirt, quickly retied her corset and slipped on her jacket. With an apologetic smile at the confused doctor, she left the office.  
  
  
  
Michael walked through Farkas Kikötõ, searching for the coffee pot he knew was hiding somewhere. If the lycans had a phone, they had to have coffee. He saw a girl in the hall and stopped and asked her where the kitchen was. That seemed the most likely place for the coffee to hide. At least, that's where he would be if he were a pot of coffee.  
  
"I just happen to be on my way to the kitchen myself," the girl said. "Why don't you come with me?" Michael accepted her offer, and they started walking.  
  
"Aren't you the girl who brings me my letters every day?" Michael asked out of the blue.  
  
"Yes. My name's Autumn. Who sends you all those letters anyway?"  
  
"My wife. I keep telling her to leave me alone, but she keeps sending those stupid letters."  
  
"Why? Why do you want her to leave you alone, I mean."  
  
"She left me. For a dentist." He said the word with disgust obvious in his voice.  
  
"I'm sorry," she said tentatively.  
  
"Don't be." He stopped and looked around. "I've never been here before."  
  
"This is the part where the newly turned lycans live. The older lycans never come here. It's our part of the manor." Her voice was silky as she said it. He looked at her in surprise and noticed for the first time that she was dressed in a spaghetti strapped tank top that barred both her midriff and more cleavage than Michael felt he needed to see, and low slung blue jeans.  
  
"If you're just looking for a one-time thing, I'm your girl," Autumn said silkily, sliding her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his.  
  
Michael was surprised, but only for an instant. He jerked out of Autumn's grasp and said, "I think I can find the kitchen from here, thanks." And then he walked very quickly back the way he had come. 


	8. Ravyn

A/N: Okay, this chapter starts out with Selene having her baby. For those of you who are confused by that, it is nine months after Viktor's death, which means it's about seven months after the last chapter. For those of you bother by the time jump, sorry, I didn't feel like coming up with stuff for them to do for the last seven months. Sorry, I'm really lazy. Also, I am fifteen, and have obviously never had a baby (maybe that's not so obvious, but it should be) so if I got some of the info on having a baby wrong, sorry. I tried to ask my mom, but she didn't really tell me anything I didn't know. And there was no way in hell I was going to ask my dad or my science teacher. So, if you have had a baby and this is wrong, sorry. Feel free to review and correct me. My muse has returned to me!! She has forgiven me for being "mean to her precious Lucian." And, for all of you who are wondering, Lucian has not vanished; he's actually been somewhere throughout this whole baby fiasco. Just wait until you find out where. That'll probably be in the next chapter, or maybe the one after that, I'm not sure.  
  
Disclaimer: Own nothing  
  
  
  
Chapter 7: Ravyn.  
  
_This is all your fault, Michael!_ Selene thought. She wanted to scream it, but there were too many people in the room who believed Kraven was the father of her baby. Instead, she let out a wordless scream of pain as another contraction ripped through her body.  
  
Erika stood by the bed, wiping sweat from her forehead with a cool cloth. Somewhere in the room, she heard Endainme En'Dae walk in and shoo everyone out of the room except Erika. Selene had, at a suggestion from Kestral a few weeks ago, asked the former Amazon to deliver her baby. She had agreed readily and Selene was glad, seeing the fluster the Death Dealers had gone into when Selene's first contraction had happened an hour ago in the middle of a meeting. Kahn had helped her to her room and then gone for Erika, knowing the two were friends and not knowing what else to do. Endainme En'Dae had been out of the manor when Selene had gone into labor, but now she was back.  
  
_Thank God!_ Selene thought, seeing Endainme En'Dae walk up to the bed, rolling up her sleeves, satisfied that the flock of confused and flustered female Death Dealers that had been "helping" were gone and would not interrupt. She soothed Selene's damp hair back from her face, murmuring encouragements. Selene gritted her teeth and groaned as another contraction swept through her.  
  
Endainme En'Dae walked to the foot of the bed.  
  
"Not long now," she said cheerily.  
  
_Easy for her to say,_ Selene thought. _She's not the one who has to do this!  
_  
"Is it supposed to hurt this much?" Selene asked through clenched teeth.  
  
"Unfortunately, yes," Endainme En'Dae replied sympathetically. "If it didn't, men would do it. But the gods saw that man wouldn't be able to handle to pain of childbirth, and so they gave the job to women, who could." She paused, then pushed her rolled-up sleeves behind her elbows, tied her long blonde hair back with a band around her wrist, and said, "When the next contraction comes, I want you to push. It will hurt like hell, but you can do it." Selene nodded, licked her dry lips, and braced herself for the next wave of pain. When the contraction came, she pushed, and the pain was so intense, Selene forgot to grit her teeth against it and let loose a loud, bloodcurdling scream she was sure Michael, all the way back in Farkas Kikötõ, could hear.  
  
Through the haze of pain, Selene thought she heard Endainme En'Dae say, "You're almost done Selene. Get ready and...push!" Selene pushed, keeping her scream under control this time. Erika wiped her sweaty forehead with the cloth and Endainme En'Dae glanced up, trying to meet Selene's eye, but she had her eyes squeezed shut.  
  
"I can see the head," she told Selene. "Once more, Selene. You can do it. Last time. Come on." Selene pushed and a wave of pain more severe than anything she had ever felt before nearly swamped her.  
  
A tiny wailing filled the air in the room and Selene opened her eyes to see Endainme En'Dae taking a clean cloth from the pile beside Erika and gently cleaning the little thing in her arms.  
  
"You have a daughter Selene," Endainme En'Dae said softly. She laid the little girl in Selene's arms and Selene held her child tenderly. She wished Michael was with her and could see his daughter.  
  
"What will you call her?" Erika asked.  
  
"Ravyn," Selene said softly, staring into her daughter's gray eyes. Human babies were born with blue eyes that darkened as they grew older, but vampire babies were born with their natural eye color. So were hybrids, it would seem. Selene felt a little thrill as she recognized the color of her child's eyes as Michael's. Even if she never saw him again, she would always have a part of him in their daughter.  
  
Ravyn, who had calmed when placed in her mother's arms, began to cry again.  
  
"She wants her dinner," Endainme En'Dae told Selene as she looked slightly panicked.  
  
Wonderingly, Selene unbuttoned the maternity shirt she had bought when the Death Dealer suit became too tight for her. She brought the little girl to her breast and the baby seized the teat offered her and began to suckle.  
  
  
  
"Erika," Marcus said, opening the door to Selene's room. "Are you in here sweet?"  
  
Erika turned at the sound of her lover's voice. "Yes, I'm in here." She was holding a sleeping Ravyn and pacing the length of Selene's room, rocking the baby gently to keep her asleep. Selene, near sleep herself, was tucked into her bed covers pulled up to her chin, watching Erika and her hours-old child. "Want to hold her Marcus?" Erika asked after glancing at Selene for permission, and holding the sleeping infant out.  
  
Marcus took her in his arms, careful to support her head, and not to jostle her. Almost at once, his expression changed. Erika thought she saw consternation slip across Marcus's face, but then realized she must have imagined it because Marcus was smiling at the little girl wrapped in blankets. He handed her back to Erika and said, "Let them get some sleep." Erika nodded and lay Ravyn in the crib Endainme En'Dae had set up.  
  
"Night," she said to Selene, who nodded and shut her eyes as Erika and Marcus left, turning off the lights as they did.  
  
As soon as Selene's door was shut, Erika slipped her arm through Marcus's and asked, "What's the matter?"  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"As soon as you held Ravyn, you looked...I don't know...worried about something."  
  
"Oh, it's nothing." Marcus brushed off her worry and kissed her gently to distract her from it, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Marcus couldn't know the truth about Ravyn, could he?  
  
  
  
The door to Selene's room opened, letting a small sliver of light spill across her floor. A figure came to the door and peered through, looking around the room. Seeing that all was still, the figure opened the door a little wider and stepped through, closing the door softly. The figure walked across the floor quietly to the baby's crib. He looked in, eyes easily piercing the blackness of Selene's room, and saw that the baby was sleeping quietly in her crib. The figure gently picked her up, and walked carefully backed to the door. At the door, he encountered a problem. How to open the door when his arms were full of sleeping baby? Carefully shifting her into one arm, he opened the door. But the slight movement was enough to jostle Ravyn awake. She began to wail, knowing instinctively that she wasn't in her mother's arms. The figure left the room and shut the door with a sped that seemed impossible. With a speed Selene would have recognized as hybrid speed, had she awoken in time.  
  
  
  
Selene opened her eyes when she heard Ravyn cry. But when she sat up, the room was completely still and silent. Throwing the covers off, she got out of bed, wincing at the pain the quick movements caused her. She walked with wincing steps to the crib where her sleeping baby lay. She looked down and noticed with a jolt of terror that the crib was empty!  
  
She let out a cry and, heedless of the pain, ran towards the door. She looked around the hall outside her room, and seeing no one, began to run. She turned a corner and ran into Endainme En'Dae. The Amazon stumbled backwards, then realized who she had run into and gripped Selene's shoulders.  
  
"Selene, what are you doing out of bed? You'll hurt yourself." Selene looked around Endainme En'Dae, looking for someone, anyone, who might have taken her child.  
  
"Ravyn," she said. "Someone's taken Ravyn!"  
  
  
  
They had searched the manor several times in the last hour, and no sign of Ravyn had been found. Tears streaked Selene's cheeks as she, Endainme En'Dae, and Erika returned to her room. Selene walked over to Ravyn's crib and looked sadly at the empty bed. She sniffed, wiping her tears from her face, and as she did, she caught a faint scent she hadn't smelled before.  
  
Marcus.  
  
She whirled to face Erika. "Where's Marcus?"  
  
Erika frowned in confusion. "He left two hours ago. Said he had Elder business to take care of."  
  
"See if you can get him back here. He knows the manor better than any of us and I want his help."  
  
"I'll do it," Endainme En'Dae volunteered before Erika could move.  
  
"I'm going to look outside," Selene told her as she left. "Whoever took my baby could have gone outside." Endainme En'Dae nodded and left. Selene grabbed her keys off the bedside table, thanking every one of her lucky stars that her body healed fast and she could now walk easily.  
  
"Where are you going?" Erika asked.  
  
"To see Xavier and Kestral."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Marcus took Ravyn and this is just the excuse we've been waiting for to attack. I am going to get my child back, and nothing will stand in my way. Marcus knows where Ravyn is and if I threaten to attack with the force of the renegades behind me, I know he will give her back." Selene turned on her heel and left at a run. A few moments later, Erika heard the squeal of tires as Selene sped out of the driveway.  
  
"If she's right," Erika said to herself. "Marcus is in deep shit, and not just from Selene and Xavier either." Her eyes full of fury, Erika stormed out of Selene's room and went looking for her wayward lover. 


	9. The Truth

A/N: Wow, these chapters are coming out really fast aren't they? My muse has been really busy giving me ideas and my temporary writers block is completely gone. There are only a few more chapters left in this fic. Which is very sad because I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with all my time when I'm done. I'm considering writing a sequel about Ravyn, but I don't really have ideas. I have an opening paragraph floating around in my head, but no idea where to go from there. I'm also considering writing a bunch of one-shots about Selene/Michael, or Ravyn/Selene discussions, and maybe even a bit about Endainme En'Dae's past. Send me review and let me know what you think I should do first, because it will all be done at some point. I don't think I explained this in any of my other chapters so I'll say it here, because it is kind of important to understand some of Endainme En'Dae's actions in this chapter: She was an Amazon Queen and she and Marcus were lovers. (she knew he was a vampire, but she didn't care and didn't want to be turned.) Then one night, Marcus lost control of himself (he was really young at the time, only a century or two.) and bit her. She broke off their relationship as lovers, and they eventually became friends. Also, I mention sais in this chapter. My ex-boyfriend, who took karate for a while, tells me that sais are the weapon the girl in Daredevil uses. So, that being said, here's chapter 8!  
  
Disclaimer: don't own, don't sue.  
  
  
  
Chapter 8: The Truth  
  
"Erika," Marcus said, closing the door behind him as he entered their room. "Endainme En'Dae said you were looking for me?"  
  
"Yes, I was afraid Selene might have found you first," Erika said, standing from her place in an arm chair and walking over to him.  
  
"Selene?"  
  
"She wants to kill you and she's in a 'shoot first, ask questions later' kind of mood."  
  
"Why does she want to kill me?"  
  
"She thinks you took Ravyn." Marcus looked at Erika for a long moment, seeing in her eyes that she desperately wanted him to tell her it wasn't true, to deny what had happened, to convince her that there had been no reason for him to take Ravyn. But he hesitated too long and Erika's eyes filled with tears. Marcus took her in his arms and she pressed her face into his chest.  
  
"Why?" she asked, voice muffled against him. "She's a harmless little baby. She can't even walk. What could she do?"  
  
"It's more her mother I'm worried about," Marcus told her. Erika pulled away sharply, confusion on her face and something that looked suspiciously like fear in her eyes.  
  
"I know you're her friend Erika," Marcus said gently. "But I think that she may be a lycan spy. Ravyn is the daughter of a lycan, or maybe even that hybrid Michael. I smelled her hybrid scent when I held her last night."  
  
Erika laughed, a genuine laugh, with relief as she realized that Marcus didn't know about the renegades and didn't suspect her in the least.  
  
"I can assure you Marcus," Erika said with a smile. "Selene is definitely not a lycan spy. I would bet my life on it." The smile faded. "Now where's Ravyn?"  
  
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that."  
  
Erika's eyes flashed angrily. "For heaven's sake Marcus, she's a baby! A baby! She needs her mother. Now where the hell is she?"  
  
Marcus stepped away from Erika and opened the door, saying, "I'm sorry Erika, but I can't tell you that. The child is an abomination and must stay in my custody."  
  
"Marcus, you're a goddamned abomination!" Erika shouted after him. "Stop acting like that moron Viktor and tell me where the hell you left her!" Her only answer was the sound of the door closing.  
  
"Fuck!" she shouted to no one in particular, then stormed out of the room to 'talk' some sense into him.  
  
  
  
Endainme En'Dae examined the stick she had just finished carving, twirling it in her fingers to see if it was straight. It spun without a wobble, so she set it down on the table and looked through the pile of iron arrow heads. When she found the one she was looking for, she took a file and sharpened the edges before attaching it to the stick. After she added the feathers, she put it on top of a pile of other finished arrows.  
  
The table she sat at was covered with weapons. Endainme En'Dae had been an Amazon Queen and she made all of her own weapons, except guns, which she rarely used. A sword hung in an elaborate hand-sewn sheath off the back of the chair she sat it. A set of throwing daggers was piled near her, the sheaths already concealed on various places on her body. Two stilettos, ready to be strapped to her wrists, sat just beyond the daggers, and above them, were two sais, Endainme En'Dae's favorite weapon. A cross bow sat in the middle of the table, beside it a pile of bolts Endainme En'Dae had spent the last hour making. Her longbow was laid across another chair and the arrow she had just finished was for the six-foot bow.  
  
The door opened and instantly a throwing dagger was in Endainme En'Dae's hand, but it was only Marcus.  
  
"Got enough stuff there?" he asked jokingly.  
  
"No." Most of her attention was focused on carving the slit in the bottom of the arrow for the string straight, but she once she was done, she looked up and saw Marcus carefully moving her longbow out of a chair and sitting down. "What's up?"  
  
"Erika's mad."  
  
"Don't blame her. I'm mad too, but I've known you for centuries and I know it's pointless. Even the fury of an Amazon won't sway you when you've made up you're mind."  
  
"I just don't understand why she's so mad. Ravyn's safe, and no harm will come to her. She is only a baby. I wouldn't—"  
  
"That's just it Marcus. She's a baby. Erika doesn't understand why you kidnapped her."  
  
"I did not—! Well, I guess I did kidnap her, but I have to protect the coven against the lycans. If Selene is a lycan spy, then I can blackmail her into telling us what she knows of the lycan plans."  
  
"I don't think it's the lycans that Selene is spying for."  
  
"What do you mean? Who else could she spy for?"  
  
"Renegades."  
  
Marcus laughed. "Endainme, there are no renegades!"  
  
"Have you forgotten Xavier already?"  
  
"Xavier? He's no threat."  
  
"What about Kestral?"  
  
"She's no threat either."  
  
"But together, with all the other vampires that left when Sonja died, they are a formidable force. And they are planning an attack on Ordoghaz."  
  
"Nonsense. How would you know anyway?"  
  
"Marcus, I was an Amazon Queen for nearly four decades. When you are a battle queen for that long, you learn when a battle is coming. And trust me, one is coming. And it's not with lycans either."  
  
"I should get Erika out of Ordoghaz then."  
  
"I don't think you have to worry about her," Endainme En'Dae said, standing and sliding the throwing daggers into their proper sheaths.  
  
"Why?" Marcus said suspiciously as she slid stilettos into the sheaths at her wrists.  
  
"I think she's a renegade spy too."  
  
"Nonsense," Marcus repeated, but there was an unsure note in his voice. "She's in love with me. She wouldn't spy on a man she loved. Would she? She is in love with me?" He meant to say it as a statement, but it came out a question.  
  
"Just be careful" Endainme En'Dae said, strapping her sword around her waist. It was the last remaining weapon. "I want you to promise me that you'll be careful." Marcus nodded, and Endainme En'Dae came around to the other side of the table and kissed him gently on the lips. "I don't want to see you hurt again." With that, she left the dojo, heading back to her own room, pretending not to hear the scuffle of feet, nor see the flash of blonde hair as someone ducked into hiding to avoid being seen by her.  
  
But Marcus did hear, and he turned and saw the bit of blonde hair disappearing around the corner.  
  
Erika's hair.  
  
  
  
_How could he?_ Erika thought over and over as she fled the dojo at a dead run. _How could he do this to me? _She had thought that he truly loved her, that this wasn't just a game for him anymore. But wasn't it a game of her own, one that he didn't know about? She had allowed herself to like him to get better information to pass on to Xavier. She hadn't planned on falling in love. In fact, Xavier and Kestral had both warned her not to get emotionally involved with him. But the pain that gripped her heart told her she had failed.  
  
She loved him.  
  
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she fought for control of her emotions. Marcus was following her, she knew, and she didn't want him to see her cry. She didn't want him to know how much she cared for him.  
  
She slowed to a walk when she realized that she was in the servants' quarters. She hadn't been there since Marcus had made her his consort. She wiped her streaming eyes, satisfied that Marcus wouldn't follow her here.  
  
She paused by the door to her old room, wondering what her roommate, Dominique, would say if Erika showed up. She decided not to find out and continued down the corridor, not having a destination clearly in mind, but knowing she would not be going back to the room she shared with Marcus. Not tonight; she knew if she did, that Marcus would convince her that it was nothing and that he would kiss her, and she would let him, and everything would follow as it nearly always did when he kissed her. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but Erika was in no mood to give any of herself to Marcus, not after what she had witnessed in the dojo.  
  
She heard footsteps behind her and she knew Marcus had followed her after all. _Shit,_ she thought, picking up her pace and trying to get away from him. The servant's quarters were a maze of interconnecting hallways, and Erika tried to loose Marcus in them, but the footsteps kept pace with her.  
  
"Erika, wait!" Marcus's commanding voice called from behind her. Unable to help herself, Erika turned and hesitated for just a moment before remember that she was trying to get away from Marcus, and started walking again. But that second of hesitation was all Marcus needed to catch up to her.  
  
"Erika, Erika, listen to me!" He tried to step in front of her and halt her progress down the hall, but Erika just gave him a glare and stepped around him.  
  
"Erika, if you will just let me explain—"  
  
Erika turned sharply and, if looks could kill, Marcus would have died on the spot.  
  
"I don't want your excuses Marcus! There is nothing you can say that excuses what happened!" She continued walking.  
  
"Erika listen! Endainme En'Dae is just a friend! Nothing more! There is nothing between us, I promise! I love you! Erika! Erika, please!"  
  
"Look Marcus. I don't care! I don't give a damn what she is to you. You can explain it away, but that doesn't excuse the fact that you let her kiss you. And that, combined with everything else that's happened in the last twenty four hours, has not exactly made you a nominee for 'boyfriend of the year' so I would appreciate if you would just leave me alone!"  
  
Before Marcus could react, or even do anything more than stand there with a stupefied expression on his face, Erika had started walking again and had gone through the first door she saw, a large steel one, and locked it behind her, baring Marcus from doing anything less than what she had asked.  
  
It took Marcus almost a full minute to realize what door Erika had gone through. Of all the door she could have picked, he groaned mentally. Why that one? He banged on the door, but it was made of solid steel and didn't even dent under his fist.  
  
"Erika, open this door! You have no idea what you're getting yourself into!" She didn't respond, but he knew she was waiting just on the other side.  
  
_Damn it,_ Marcus thought. _Of all the doors in the castle, she picks the one that I don't have the fucking key to! Now I have to go beg it off Endainme En'Dae. Damn!_ He left at a quick walk towards Endainme En'Dae's room, and away from the door that led to the dungeons.  
  
  
  
Erika waited until she was sure Marcus was gone, then looked around to see where she was. She was in a dark hallway that led out into the darkness. Erika had to find out what the door was guarding, because big steel doors are put there for a reason, and she wanted to know what it was.  
  
She walked carefully down the dark corridor, feet feeling for unevenness that might cause her to trip. The hallway wasn't long, she found, but she wished she had a torch or something so she could see where she was going.  
  
She saw a light in the distance, and she hurried towards it. The light seemed to outline a door, and when Erika reached it, she felt for a handle. Her hands touched old wood, and a large brass doorknob that squeaked as she turned it.  
  
Inside there was a vast cavern Michael would have recognized as the one from Lucian's memories. Light poured from torches all over the walls, giving the room the look of daylight. At first,Erika thought it was empty, but when she heard a moan, her eyes were directed to a figure huddled on the floor, bound by silver chains. Erika took a tentative step closer and picked up a strong smell of hybrid. Not one she was used to either. The man on the floor had been a lycan before he was bitten by a vampire. Or had he been bitten? His neck was covered by a thick mane of black hair and beard that Erika couldn't see through. Hands shaking as she realized who it must be, Erika reached for the cell phone in her jeans' pocket.  
  
  
  
"What do you mean 'no'!" Selene said furiously, slamming her hands on Xavier's desk. "She is my child dammit, and Marcus has her! I can't get her back by myself, Xavier!"  
  
"I'm sorry, Selene," Xavier told her, rubbing his eyes with one hand as if he had a headache, which he did, a splitting one. "But I can't risk exposing us. We won't be fully prepared with all of our people until the end of year. I can't risk an attack on Ordoghaz until then, unless you can come up with about a hundred extra vampires."  
  
"Damn it Xavier," Kestral said. "She's only one day old. If we don't get her back soon, I don't know how long she'll live without her mother."  
  
"Why did he take her anyway? He has no reason to suspect us. Why would he take her away?"  
  
"He knows who her father is," Selene said miserably. "I saw it in his eyes when he held her. He probably thinks I'm a lycan spy."  
  
"What—?" Xavier was clearly very confused. Kestral obviously hadn't told him who, or rather, what the father was.  
  
"The father is a lycan," Selene explained.  
  
"Why don't you go to him for help then? The lycans have enough numbers."  
  
"Why would they want to help a vampire? You'd have to give them something they really want," Kestral said.  
  
"He doesn't know. And I can't—" She was cut off by the ringing of her cell phone. "What?"  
  
"Selene," Erika's voice came over the phone, nervous and frightened. "I found the dungeons of Ordoghaz."  
  
"Good for you Erika!" Selene snapped. "That must be a big achievement for you!"  
  
"Selene, I think Lucian may still be alive. I don't think Kraven killed him."  
  
"What does that have to do with Ordoghaz's dungeons?"  
  
"There's a man here. And he smells like a hybrid, and he's not Michael, and he's not Marcus. He looks like what you described Lucian as. I really think he is Lucian." A slow smile crept across Selene's face as a plan began to form in her mind.  
  
"Can he talk?" she asked. There was a pause on the other end and a new voice came on the phone.  
  
"Selene? Where's Michael?"  
  
"Is that all you ever ask me, Lucian?" Selene said, remembering her run-in with the hybrid when she had soon after she had joined the renegades. "He's with the lycans, don't worry. And I'm going to let him know where you are, and he'll get you out of Ordoghaz." Her battery died. "Damn," she muttered and snapped the stupid thing shut. 


	10. Alliance

A/N: Okay, only a few more chapters until the end. This one is kind of short, sorry, but I think the next one is going to be kind of long. Thank you all for your reviews!  
  
Disclaimer: don't own, don't sue  
  
~~~  
  
Chapter 9: Alliance  
  
"Let me get this straight," Xavier said. They were still in Xavier's office, and it was only a few hours until dawn. Selene was sitting in a chair, legs thrown gracefully over one arm of the chair, fiddling with her gun. Kestral leaned against the wall near the window, arms crossed over her chest and one leg bracing her against the wall. Xavier had stood from his desk chair and was now pacing restlessly around the room.  
  
"You want me to send an emissary of vampires to Farkas Kikötõ, and offer our help in getting back Lucian, in exchange for their help getting back a baby. And you don't want me to tell them whose baby it is."  
  
"Yep, that's about it," Selene said, looking up from her gun.  
  
"That's got to be the most desperate plan I've ever heard. What makes you think the lycans won't shoot us on sight, let alone agree?"  
  
"Easy. Mention my name."  
  
"I thought you didn't want us to tell them whose the baby was."  
  
"I don't, but you're a creative person, Xavier. I'm sure you can find some way to work my name into the conversation. Or you could take Erika."  
  
"What's Erika got to do with this?"  
  
"You'll be dealing with Michael. He knows her, sort of, and more importantly, he knows she knows me. I don't know how he feels about me now, but I know he used to...have strong feelings for me. If she mentions me, then he'll be intrigued, and he'll at least listen to you. Not even lycans can resist a good intrigue."  
  
Xavier sat back down in his chair, rubbing his temples. His headache had worsened considerably. He opened his desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of Tylenol. But when he opened it, he found that the bottle was empty. "Damn," he muttered, throwing the bottle against the wall, half-hoping it would break. "Call Erika. If you can convince her to do it, then we'll give it a try. But she's going alone. And if she dies, it's your fault."  
  
Selene grinned and grabbed the phone off Xavier's desk, since her cell phone battery was dead. Hurriedly, she dialed Erika's number.  
  
"Hello?" came Erika's voice. She sounded as though she was still in the dungeon with Lucian.  
  
"Erika. We need you to come to the renegade mansion. And bring some clothes, you'll be here for a while."  
  
"What do I tell Marcus, if he asks?"  
  
"Tell him you're going out to look for me. Aren't you two in a fight anyway?"  
  
"Well, yes..."  
  
"Then it won't matter." She hung up, and told Xavier and Kestral, "She's on her way."  
  
"I can't believe I'm letting you do this," Xavier groaned.  
  
"Oh, come on Xavier. It's a good plan," Kestral said.  
  
Xavier muttered something to himself that sounded suspiciously like, "crazy females I have to deal with."  
  
"What was that Xavier?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
~~~  
  
"You want me to what!"  
  
Selene explained the plan again. "Send someone with a gun with me, and you got a deal," Erika said.  
  
"I'll go," Kestral said immediately. She liked Erika, but she didn't quite trust her. She suspected that the blond vampire had gotten emotionally involved with Marcus, and that was a bad thing. She wanted to make sure that everything went as it was supposed to. And besides, this Michael person was supposed to be cute.  
  
"Tomorrow night then," Selene said.  
  
~~~  
  
Michael sat at his desk reading a history of the lycans. So far he'd found no mention of Lucian or Sonja and it was beginning to annoy him.  
  
A knock on the door interrupted his progress through the thick book.  
  
"Michael, there's two vampires here to see you," Raze said, sticking his head through the door. Michael could see he had his Uzi in one hand.  
  
"Vampires?" Michael asked, confused.  
  
"They say they're friends of Selene." Michael almost fell out of his chair in surprise.  
  
"Selene?"  
  
"That's what they said." The tone of Raze's voice told Michael that the large black lycan would much rather he didn't let them in, but he knew what his commander would say.  
  
"Show them in."  
  
Almost bouncing in his chair from anticipation, Michael waited for Raze to return. The seconds dragged on. He got up and straightened a painting on the wall, which didn't need straightening. He sat down in his chair again and twiddled his thumbs for a few seconds before standing to pace the room.  
  
After what seemed to Michael like hours later, but was really only a few minutes, Raze returned with two vampires. One Michael recognized as the levitating blonde he'd seen the night Selene had brought him back to Ordoghaz. The other was a tall, red-haired woman with piercing green eyes. She had an air of command about her that she wore like a cloak. Michael swallowed nervously, wondering what the two wanted.  
  
"So who are you?" he asked, sitting quietly in his desk chair, the perfect picture of a calm, collected lycan leader, when inside he had so much energy, he was afraid he would start bouncing off the walls at any moment.  
  
"My name is Erika," the blonde one said. "And this is Kestral. We're here to negotiate an alliance between the lycans and renegades." Michael started at the word "renegades." Could that mean there was more than one group of vampires?  
  
"Renegades?" he asked.  
  
"You know about Sonja," the red-haired woman, Kestral, said, a light Scottish accent coloring her words. It wasn't really a question.  
  
Michael nodded.  
  
"When she died, a lot of us left Ordoghaz, swearing vengeance against the Elders."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"One of us, a spy in Ordoghaz, recently had a baby. Marcus suspected her of being a renegade, why we don't yet know, but he took her child and hid her somewhere. We would like to attack Ordoghaz and retrieve the baby and overthrow Marcus, but our numbers are not quite sufficient for such. We would like to arrange an alliance with the lycans."  
  
"I see," Michael said slowly. "If it were only my help you were asking, I would say yes immediately, but you are asking for the help, and possibly the lives, of all the lycans. They would never forgive me if I agreed to such an alliance without us getting something out of it. What can you promise us?"  
  
"Lucian."  
  
For the second time in the space of ten minutes, Michael almost fell out of his chair.  
  
"Lucian is dead," he replied carefully.  
  
"I've seen him," Erika said. "I accidentally walked into one of the Ordoghaz dungeons and I saw him. I talked to him. He's alive. I'm sure of it."  
  
"If we help you release Lucian, then you will help us get the child?"  
  
"Yes," Michael said. Then he remembered that the two claimed to be friends of Selene's.  
  
"Tomorrow night," he added quickly, as the two stood up to leave. "I would like to invite all the renegades to Farkas Kikötõ for a party. We can make the alliance and its terms official then."  
  
Kestral nodded, and the two swept out the door with the air of two queens leaving their banquet hall.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: Hope you liked it! Please Review!!! 


	11. Together

A/N: It's the chapter you've all been waiting for! And it the case of some, bugging me for! Well, I hope I get a lot of reviews after this chapter because I think it was a highly anticipated chapter. Or maybe I'm giving myself too much credit. Just a warning: I was feeling more romantic than usual when I wrote this, so sorry if it seems a bit too mushy, or over the top. BTW: if anyone has a suggestion for a better chapter name, feel free to voice your opinion. I don't like the name of this chapter, but I couldn't think of anything else. Sorry, my chapter title muse is on vacation. BTW2: a HUGE thank you to moose (aka vampirehuntr00) for BETAing this for me and for being my muse! THANKS MOOSEY!!!  
  
Disclaimer: don't own, don't sue. KK?  
  
Chapter 10: Together  
  
"You want me to do what!" Selene said, echoing Erika's words earlier that night. Kestral and Erika had just returned and told Xavier that Michael wanted to have a party the next night. And Xavier wanted all the renegades to come. Including Selene.  
  
"I don't see what's so bad about it," Erika said. "It's just a dress."  
  
"It's pink! I refuse to wear pink!"  
  
"You'd look good in pink," Erika insisted.  
  
"No pink."  
  
"How about this one?" she said, pulling out a green frilly dress.  
  
Selene crossed her arms. "I don't see why I have to wear a dress anyway."  
  
"Because it's a party Selene," Erika said, exasperated. "You have to wear a dress to party."  
  
"Kestral," Selene pleaded.  
  
"She's right Selene," Kestral said. "How about this one?" She pulled out a simple black dress, rather too dressy looking for Selene's tastes, but otherwise looked okay.  
  
Selene sighed. "If I have to wear the dress, I guess that one will work."  
  
~~~  
  
The night, Selene stepped into the limo with Kestral and Xavier. The back of the dress had surprised Selene. Her back had been bared almost to her hips, but it didn't show as much as Erika's dress, which barely covered her front.  
  
Kestral had curled Selene's hair so that it fell in gentle waves to her shoulders and applied a light layer of makeup to Selene's eyes, emphasizing her pale complexion and dark eyes. Selene had to admit that she looked beautiful.  
  
*I can't believe I'm doing this,* she thought. *What if Michael sees me? What do I say to him? What must he think of me after all this?* Dread grew in her stomach as they drew closer to Farkas Kikötõ. She had protested strongly when Xavier had insisted she go, and when Kestral had made her put on the dress, and when she had curled her hair and put on her makeup, she had protested. But here she was, sitting in the limo, almost to Farkas Kikötõ.  
  
As they pulled into the drive, she turned to Xavier and asked, "Do I have to do this?"  
  
Xavier nodded, and Kestral said, "You have to face him sometime." Selene swallowed hard and nodded.  
  
*For Ravyn,* she thought. *I'll do this for Ravyn.*  
  
They pulled into the drive, and Selene steeled herself and got out of the limo, trying unsuccessfully to keep her dress from tangling in legs. Kestral caught her elbow before she fell and Selene straightened the dress, trying to keep her balance on her heeled shoes. She had worn heeled boots before, but they were nothing like the dress shoes she wore now. Kestral supported her until she was sure Selene could stand on her own, then let go, understanding that Selene needed to approach the manor on her own.  
  
They rang the doorbell, and a young lycan girl, perhaps nineteen years old, opened the door. She showed the vampires into a large ball room, where both lycans and vampires were already eating and talking and dancing in their best clothes, though not with each other. Xavier and Kestral went off to talk to other high-ranking vampires, and Selene, left alone, drifted towards the food table.  
  
The party reminded her of a middle school dance, boys on one side, girls on the other. Only in this case it was lycans on one side, vampires on the other. Selene wondered vaguely where Michael had gotten the blood for the vampires, but decided she really didn't want to know.  
  
She picked up what looked like a champagne glass, but was filled with crimson blood, rather than champagne, and sipped from it, trying to place the taste. It tasted very similar to the cow blood she used to drink before the cloned blood had become the coven's main food source, but much finer. She took another sip, letting the warm liquid slide over her tongue and down her throat, trying to place the taste.  
  
The band at the front of the room finished their song, and everyone turned and clapped. The director acknowledged them with a little bow, and then began the next song. Selene was interested to see that all the members of the little band were lycans. She had no idea lycans had class.  
  
Selene turned when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She set down her glass and turned, half-dreading what she would see behind her, and knowing all the time who it was. She had been dreading this confrontation since Xavier insisted she go.  
  
"Michael," she breathed at seeing his face at last, dragging her eyes away from his pale lips up to his gray eyes. She gazed into them and saw an uncertainty there. An uncertainty that she longed to kiss away, but was too afraid to.  
  
"Selene." An awkward pause followed and each of them longed to break the silence surrounding their hearts, but neither dared.  
  
"Would you like to dance?" he asked after the long moment had passed. She nodded, not trusting her voice.  
  
They stepped onto the dance floor and Michael's arms encircled her. They were close, but not as close as either would have liked, but both were too afraid and uncertain to close that final distance between them.  
  
They moved with the music, the slow enchanting sound of a harp directing their movements. Michael's hand quivered on her waist and she sense that he wanted to step closer, or away, and she couldn't tell which.  
  
"I can't do this Selene," he said, hands barely touching the cool skin of her back.  
  
"I can't keep holding you in my arms and not know how you feel." His hands dropped to his sides and they stood there, perfectly motionless among a sea of dancers, gazing into each other's eyes.  
  
At last Michael said, seeing she wasn't going to answer his question, "Why did you leave?"  
  
"Must we have this discussion here?" Selene asked, glancing nervously at the dancers around them.  
  
Michael shook his head and gently took her hand, pulling her off the dance floor and away from the party. He led her up a large twisting staircase, down a hall, and through a door she recognized from her one time in the manor as his own.  
  
Inside, Michael released her hand and repeated his question.  
  
"Why did you leave?"  
  
She was silent for a long time and Michael knew she was thinking. She sat in a chair as she thought, her hands in her lap, fiddling with the folds of her black gown. He watched her hands, so slender and pale. Hands that could hold and fire a weapon with the same ease and grace that he had seen as they caressed his body on their single night together.  
  
His eyes wandered from her pale hands to her face. They lingered slightly on her red lips, so sharply contrasting with her porcelain skin, and then moved up to her brown eyes, tinged only slightly with icy vampiress blue. There was a sadness in her eyes, he noted. It had been there all night and was the only hint in her stony expression that her once frozen heart had melted.  
  
At last, her hands fell still and she looked directly at him, as she had avoided doing since she had entered his room.  
  
"I had to," she told him flatly, her voice void of any emotion. "If I had stayed with you, the lycans would never have accepted you, and they needed you, with Lucian dead. If I hadn't left when I did—"  
  
"But you don't know that Selene!" Michael exploded. "They might have accepted you too. You never gave them a chance!"  
  
"I do know, Michael!" Selene shouted back. "I've been a part of this war for five hundred years Michael! The hatred between vampires and lycans was strong then, and it has only gotten stronger! This was has lasted for nearly 800 years. It doesn't matter to the lycans that I killed Viktor. One vampire death, even that of an Elder, does not make up for the thousands of lycans I killed. Can't you understand? They would never allow you to lead them if you were with me. can't you understand that?"  
  
"They let Lucian lead them," Michael pointed out. "He was in love with a vampyre."  
  
"That was before the war Michael."  
  
"I don't care! I don't care what they think! I love you Selene and I don't give a damn what the lycans think." He paused and then said, so quietly she almost couldn't hear, "I used to think you felt the same." He couldn't look at her, despite how much he wanted to, because he knew he would see only her stony expression.  
  
"Michael, I..." Her voice caught and he looked up. There were tears in her eyes, though none had yet made it to her cheeks. He took two steps forward and enfolded her in his arms. Her cheek pressed against his strong chest and she whispered, "Michael, I do love you." He looked down at her, surprised at the frank admission made without any coaxing. Her eyes were shut and she was struggling with her tears. He kissed her eyelids, causing the tears to slip from beneath the closed lids. He kissed the tears from her cheeks, then eased his lips gently, almost hesitantly, over hers.  
  
She could taste the salt from her tears in his kiss. Her arms snaked around his neck, pulling their faces closer. She opened her lips under his and his tongue obediently traced the outline of her lips before initiating an amorous dance with her own.  
  
Selene's hands found the neck of his jacket and pushed it off his shoulders. She pulled her mouth reluctantly away and untied his tie. Her hands moved to begin unbuttoning his shirt.  
  
Michael watched her unbutton each button with such a fierce concentration, he would have thought all her attention was focused on the task. But the glances she was directing downwards were not directed at the next button.  
  
~~~  
  
When Selene woke, she was in Michael's arms, the warmth radiating from his bare body warming her own. She snuggled closer, glad of both the warmth and the fact that it wasn't merely a dream. She was awake, and really in Michael's arms. She smiled contentedly as she studied his sleeping face. She traced his jaw line with a finger and he stirred, tightening his arms around her as he woke.  
  
"Not leaving, I hope," he said.  
  
"It's morning," she told him. "I couldn't leave even if I wanted to. Did we miss the end of the party?"  
  
"Probably."  
  
"Perfect," she purred, moving in to kiss him passionately.  
  
~~~  
  
"You know I wasn't really expecting to see you tonight," Michael said conversationally. His head was propped up on his hand, and he looked down at Selene, who lay in the bed beside him. "Knowing your dislike of parties and all."  
  
"Xavier made me come," she said sourly. "I didn't want to."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I was afraid to face you," she said quietly.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"After leaving you, twice, I was afraid of what you would think. And I..." she trailed off.  
  
"And what?"  
  
"I feel like a shower," Selene said abruptly, getting up and stretching. "How about you?" Without waiting for an answer, she walked into the bathroom and turned on the hot water.  
  
"Selene," Michael said, getting up and following her. "What's the matter?"  
  
"It's nothing," she insisted, testing the water before stepping inside. Michael followed.  
  
"Selene, tell me what's bothering you. I promise I won't laugh."  
  
Selene sighed, brushing her wet hair out of her face.  
  
"You know the terms of the alliance?"  
  
"Yes," Michael said slowly.  
  
"The child, the one the renegades want," Michael nodded, and Selene took a deep breath before continuing, "She's my daughter." Her head tilted back against the tiled wall of the shower, and she closed her eyes as she leaned against it, relieved to have her secret out at last.  
  
Michael stared at her, his gray eyes almost bugging out of his head. A child? When had she had a child? And with who? How could she do this to him?  
  
A smile tugged at Selene's lips as she remembered her daughter's small face.  
  
"She has my nose."  
  
How could she?  
  
"And your eyes."  
  
Michael's eyes grew even wider, if that were possible. He stared at her for a few seconds, uncomprehending, and then his hands reached out and gripped her shoulders.  
  
"I have a daughter?" he said stupidly. Selene nodded, her lips curving up in a smile.  
  
"I have a daughter!" Michael exclaimed before capturing her lips in a fierce kiss.  
  
~~~  
  
Dusk found them back in Michael's large bed. Michael seemed to have developed a fascination with Selene's stomach since the new that it had once carried a child.  
  
"She's not in there anymore," Selene informed him as he traced a finger over her now-flat belly.  
  
"I know, but still," he said absently, attention completely absorbed by her midriff. She opened her mouth to reply laughingly, but a loud knock interrupted her.  
  
"Not now," Michael called, shifting his attention to her lips and kissing them. She smiled beneath his lips, but the knock came again.  
  
"Michael, there's a woman here to see you," Raze's voice came through the door.  
  
Without missing a beat, Michael lifted his lips from Selene's and said, "Tell her I'm busy," before returning his attention to Selene's mouth.  
  
"Michael, she says her name's René."  
  
Michael jerked his head up in surprise and stared in shock at the door. Then, muttering a curse under his breath, he climbed out of bed and began looking for his pants.  
  
Selene watched him as he found the pants and tugged them on. When he turned to look for his shirt, she asked, "Who's René?" 


	12. The Bitch is Back

A/N: Short note this time. I'm too tired to write a long one. In case you're wondering, this chapter is named after the Elton John song called The Bitch is Back. If you've never heard it before, you should. It's a good song. Thanks to all those who reviewed. I think I'm going to thank every single reviewer in my last chapter, so if you want me to thank you, you better hurry and review!!  
  
Disclaimer: don't own, don't sue  
  
~~~  
  
Chapter 11: The Bitch is Back  
  
"So that's it then, isn't it?" Xavier said as he set the pen down. The party was over, and he and Kestral had just finished signing the contract that detailed the agreements of the alliance between the renegades and the lycans.  
  
Raze nodded, putting the pen away and picking up the contract. He glanced at it, making sure that all three signatures were in their proper places. Michael had already signed it before he went to talk to Selene, telling Raze that he would probably be back soon, but if he wasn't, that he was not to be disturbed for any reason other than the manor catching fire.  
  
"Ready to go?" Xavier asked Kestral, obviously anxious to get out of the lycan manor.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
They turned to go, but Xavier stopped and asked Kestral, "Where's Selene? She didn't leave early, did she?"  
  
"Not exactly. Are you ready or not?"  
  
"We can't leave without her."  
  
"Trust me," Kestral said, putting her hands on Xavier shoulders and pushing him out the door, "We can, and, in the best interests of preserving your life, we need to."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean that Selene will not be happy if we bother her where she is right now."  
  
"But where is she?"  
  
"Xavier?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Shut up." Kestral's patience was obviously beginning to wear thin.  
  
Xavier obeyed, hearing the irritation in Kestral's voice, but he still wondered where Selene was that she would not like being disturbed. She hadn't even wanted to go. So where was she?  
  
~~~  
  
Michael turned to face Selene, wondering how he could tell her about René.  
  
"Michael? Who is she?" Selene repeated, sitting up in bed, pulling the sheets up to cover herself.  
  
"Well um, you see...it's difficult to explain...um..."  
  
Selene grabbed her clothes from where they lay near the foot of the bed, and quickly dressed herself. Fully clothed, she was able to stand and cross her arms over her chest as she demanded, "What haven't you told me Michael? Who is she?"  
  
Seeing she wasn't going to stop until she got and answer, Michael sighed and said, "René is my wife."  
  
"Your WHAT!" Selene shouted.  
  
"Shhh! She's just downstairs! She's my wife. She left me three years ago for a dentist and I hadn't heard from her since then until she started sending me letters a few weeks after Viktor died. I never answered her letters, and when she called me I hung up on her, and—"  
  
"I can't believe this!" Selene exclaimed, cutting him off. "You're married! Why didn't you tell me this before?"  
  
"Because I didn't think it was that important. I mean, I hadn't heard from her in three years."  
  
"Not important!"  
  
"I've been planning on divorcing her!"  
  
"That's great, Michael, it really is. But why is she here?"  
  
"I don't know. But I'm going to find out, and I'd like you to come with me."  
  
"Why?" Selene demanded.  
  
He stepped forward and gripped her hands, uncrossing her arms. "I told you last night that I loved you, and I don't care who knows it. That includes René. I don't love her anymore; maybe I never did. I love you, and I want her to know, to see that I have moved on. So will you come?"  
  
Selene nodded, and sat down to pull on her shoes. "But I'm taking a gun with me!"  
  
Michael waited as she struggled with the straps of the unfamiliar shoes, then suggested, "Why don't you borrow something of mine?"  
  
Selene stared at him, then shrugged.  
  
~~~  
  
René waited at the bottom of the stairs for the tall black man to return, hopefully with Michael in tow. She wondered why he hadn't answered any of her letters, but she assumed they had gotten lost in the mail. She knew he still loved her. After all, how could he not? She was René, his wife, and he loved her; she knew he did.  
  
The large black man appeared at the top of the stairs. He unnerved her a little. He wore a black trench coat, and no shirt underneath, and carried a big gun. But she assumed he was just a security guard. A really bizarre security guard, but a security guard none the less. Michael seemed to have come up in the world since she had left, living in a big manor, with security guards, and she couldn't wait to begin her life anew with him in the big manor. She wondered how much money he had now.  
  
Michael appeared behind the large black man. He wore black slacks and a white shirt, with the top few buttons unbuttoned, revealing a bit of his chest. René smiled as she saw him. He looked so much more handsome than when they had gone their separate ways. It looked as though he had actually acquired some taste!  
  
Then she saw the woman standing next to him, his arm around her waist, and hers around his. She wore a pair of ill-fitted jeans and a plain dark tee- shirt René recognized as Michael's. How dare that slut wear her husband's clothes! The woman's skin was very pale, looking as though it had never seen the sun, and her hair and eyes were dark, giving her a look of mystical beauty René knew she could never compete with. And in her free hand, she held a gun. The woman seemed very comfortable with the weapon, as though she had held one in her hand from the day she was born. René sincerely hoped the woman was more security, but rather suspected she wasn't.  
  
Michael and the strange woman came down the stairs, preceded by the large black man. When they stood in front of her, René looked resolutely at Michael, never glancing at the strange woman dressed in Michael's clothes.  
  
"What are you doing here René?" he asked.  
  
*Why doesn't he sound happy to see me?*  
  
"I wanted to talk to you Michael, since you never answered any of my letters, and you hung accidentally hung up on me when I called you."  
  
"Accidentally?" Michael snorted, and René thought the woman beside him was smirking, but she was determinedly not looking at her, so she couldn't tell for sure.  
  
"You didn't tell me you hung up on her, Michael," the woman said.  
  
"I didn't? I could have sworn I did." He looked at her and smiled.  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Must have slipped my mind." He grinned at her, and she smiled back. The woman's smile was slightly forced, and René could tell she was a little angry with him, but not very much. René cleared her throat, hoping to force Michael to look back at her, his wife. But he continued to smile at the strange woman and he started to bend his head to kiss her, but she stopped him with a movement so slight, René almost didn't see it.  
  
She cleared her throat again. The two didn't look away from each other.  
  
"Uh, Michael," she said.  
  
"Did you want something René?" He looked at her, but his eyes told her that he would much rather be looking at the other woman, and René began to feel irritated.  
  
"Michael, who is this slut! You are married to me! And I demand, as your wife, that you come here and kiss me!"  
  
The woman brought her gun up, but Michael pushed her hand down.  
  
"Let me handle this, Selene," he said to her. "René, this is my girlfriend Selene. She and I have been going out for almost a year now." *Not strictly true,* he thought. *But close enough!*  
  
René opened her mouth to ask him how he dared to date another woman, but he cut her off.  
  
"I'm sorry if you don't like it René, but I really don't care anymore. You had your chance, and you blew it when you ran off with that dentist. Now, we are in the middle of a little personal crisis, and I would appreciate it if you would leave so we can handle it. When it's been dealt with, I will be talking to a lawyer about a divorce, which I should have done a long time ago. Now, if you'll excuse us?" He started to walk past her, but she put a hand on his arm, and asked, "What sort of personal crisis?"  
  
Michael opened his mouth, but it was Selene who spoke. "If you really want to know," she said sweetly, turning to look directly at René, a smirk tugging at her lips, "Our daughter has been kidnapped and we are on our way to get her back." She smiled at René again, and turned to the big black man behind her.  
  
"Raze, if you would show her out? Thank you."  
  
The large man, Raze, took hold of a protesting René's arm, and dragged her towards the door. He pushed her through the entrance to the large manor and shut the door in her face with a satisfying slam.  
  
~~~  
  
Selene grabbed the banister of the stairway for support as she laughed. She couldn't get her breath and she clutched at her stomach with her free hand.  
  
Michael stared at her as if she had gone insane.  
  
"Um, Selene...are you okay?"  
  
"I'm fine," she said between her gasps for breath. "The look on her face when I told her about Ravyn! Priceless. And when Raze shut the door in her face..." She started laughing again.  
  
After a few moments of Selene laughing and Michael staring, Selene suddenly jumped with a little shriek, her hand diving into her pocket.  
  
"What is it?" Michael said, concern prominent in his voice.  
  
"My cell phone," Selene said, brandishing the offending machine. "It's set on vibrate." She opened it and put it to her ear. "Hello?"  
  
"Selene!" Xavier shouted on the other end. "Where the bloody hell are you?"  
  
"At Farkas Kikötõ," Selene said calmly. "Where did you think?"  
  
"You get your vampiric ass back here! We have a lot to do before the lycans get here."  
  
"Chill Xavier, I'll be there soon." She snapped the phone shut without waiting to hear Xavier's reply. "Who was that?" Michael asked.  
  
"Xavier. He wants me to get my 'vampiric ass' back to the renegade manor. Apparently, we're hosting the pre-storm-the-castle meeting, and Xavier needs me to help set up."  
  
"I'll give you a ride."  
  
~~~  
  
"Nice car," Selene said when she saw his Viper.  
  
"Thanks." Michael pulled out his keys and unlocked the doors before going around to the driver's side.  
  
"I can drive," Selene offered.  
  
"Umm... that's okay," Michael declined, remembering the last time he'd been in a car with Selene in the driver's seat. He thought he could live without another experience like that one. Especially since this car was much nicer than hers had been and there was no telling what she might end up doing to his car.  
  
Selene shrugged. "If you're sure."  
  
"I'm sure."  
  
~~~  
  
Selene stared out the window as they drove in silence. Rain had begun to fall, and Selene found the sound of the drops falling was soothing to her nerves, which were beginning to fray with an anxiety she could never let Michael—or anyone else—see.  
  
A battle was approaching. A battle for her daughter's life.  
  
*If she's still alive,* Selene thought. It had been three days since Ravyn's birth, and Selene had no idea where Marcus had taken her, nor what he was feeding her. She hoped her baby was getting along alright without her mother's milk.  
  
Her heart and mind argues within her. Her heart demanded the death of Marcus, the man who had stolen her child from her. But her mind insisted that if she killed him, she would not get off as easily for Marcus's murder as she had for Viktor's.  
  
She debated it all the way to the renegade manor, never letting Michael see her in turmoil.  
  
Michael saw Selene slip on her stony, unreadable Death Dealer expression, and knew what she was thinking about. The same thoughts raged in his mind. What if they couldn't get Ravyn back? Would he lose his daughter before he even saw her? 


	13. Ready to Roll

A/N: We haven't got much longer until this fic is finished; only a few more chapters, then an epilogue. I've definitely got a sequel in mind, but whether I post it or not is up to you guys, the reviewers. If I post the sequel, it will be a great deal more 'magicky' than this one. I really am a fantasy person, so it will be a bit of a crossover with my original fic. So, let me know what you think. Should I post, or not? Oh, and I apologize for the lateness of this chapter. It was due partly to the fact that I had supreme writer's block due to the boringness of exams, and partially because once I got it written, it took my muse FOREVER to check the silly thing. Hopefully, she'll be quicker with the ending chapters. So, without further ado, here's chapter 12! and BTW I DETEST this quick edit thing. It won't let me use my little squiggles to spearate the people. Sorry, I tried. It didn't work. Blame ff.net  
  
Disclaimer: don't own, don't sue.

Chapter 12: Ready to Roll  
  
Michael stopped the car as they pulled into the driveway. He turned off the engine and sat there, hands in his lap. Neither Selene nor Michael made a move to get out. Both were still absorbed in their thoughts, the silence only breeched by the pattering of the falling rain.  
  
"Selene," Michael said, after the long moment had passed. She turned to look at him, and beneath her icy mask, he saw briefly the pain that the loss of her child had inflicted on her. It was quickly gone, but Michael knew it had been there, because he felt it too. Thought he had never known of his little daughter until the previous night, he already loved her, and the thought of her kidnapped made his heart ache with pain and anger.  
  
"We'll get her back, Selene," he said. "I promise."  
  
A ghost of a smile touched her lips and she whispered, "I know. But that doesn't stop me worrying." She got out of the car, slamming the door behind her, and striding quickly up to the door of the manor, ignoring the rain.  
  
Michael hastily followed, almost forgetting to unbuckle his seatbelt, but remembering just in time. He pulled his shirt up against the rain, and hurried to the door. Selene waited, her dark hair soaked. She had walked unheedingly under the downpour, seeming not to notice the soaking she received.  
  
Selene opened the door and turned to Michael.  
  
"You should go back to Farkas Kikötõ. Get the lycans ready. Give them a pep talk or whatever you lycans do." She shut the door, leaving him standing just beyond the reach of the spring rain.  
  
Wondering at her sudden change of heart, Michael ran back to his car, trying unsuccessfully to avoid getting wetter than he already was.

Selene ascended the stairs to Xavier's office. She was glad Michael hadn't protested when she sent him away. Not that she had given him time to. She hadn't wanted to send him away, but she knew that the alliance stressed Xavier, and she was sure that finding out exactly who Ravyn's father was would probably send him off the deep end. He knew that Ravyn was a hybrid, and Selene guessed that that was part of the reason he'd agreed to the alliance. If the renegades had a hybrid on their side, defeating Marcus was plausible. Their attack the next night was not to be the revolt Xavier had been planning for centuries. That would come later, when Xavier was sure they could win on their own, without a debt to the lycans.  
  
She opened the door to the office. Kestral was calmly reading a book and Xavier was pacing nervously.  
  
"There you are!" he exclaimed when he saw her. "Where were you?"  
  
"Didn't we go over this already?" Selene asked.  
  
"Don't mind him," Kestral said, putting her book aside. "He's just panicking because there's a battle coming and he hasn't planned out every last detail."  
  
"Did you need me for something, Xavier?" Selene asked.  
  
"Can you and Kestral check the guns to be sure all the mags are full?"  
  
"Sure," Kestral said, walking out of the study. Selene followed. She had only been to the renegade's version of the dojo a few times, and wasn't entirely sure where she was going.  
  
Kestral led her down a short hallway and up some stair to the dojo. In the back of the dojo, there was a special room filled with weapons. Three walls were lined with guns, and the fourth wall, in which the door was placed, had a case of old weapons, swords and daggers and bow-and-arrow sets. There were longswords and short swords and broadswords. There were several weapons that Selene didn't recognize. In the center of the room, was a long table.  
  
"I've already checked the guns twice today," Kestral told her, putting her hand into a chest on a table in a corner, and digging around in the bottom, looking for the catch to the false bottom.  
  
"Then what are we doing here?" Selene asked.  
  
"Easing Xavier's nerves. He frets better when he's alone." Kestral smiled and pulled out a key. As she turned to the case filled with ancient weapons and fitted the key into the lock, Selene noticed how oddly dressed Kestral was.  
  
She wore a low-cut crimson shirt and a long red skirt with slits high up both sides. She had knee-high black boots. Selene noticed that on the outside of the boots were two loops, one close to the knee, the other halfway to the ankle. She wondered what they were for.  
  
She soon found out. Kestral had opened the weapons case and was pulling out weapons and inspecting them. She had selected an oak longbow and a quiver full of arrows, two twin scimitars with emeralds in the pommel, several throwing daggers, and two peculiar looking daggers with rounded blades and sharpened tips. Carefully scooping the weapons into her arms, she walked to the center of the room and spread the weapons out on the table. She returned to the case and locked it, returning the key to the chest. As she began sorting through the weapons, laying them out on the table so that each was visible, Selene asked, "What are all those for?"  
  
Kestral paused before she answered.  
  
"Tomorrow..." Her voice trailed off.  
  
"Wouldn't a gun be of more use?"  
  
"No. It will be my job to fight Endainme En'Dae, because I am the only one who can."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Endainme En'Dae was my friend, but she will fight on the side of the Elders. She taught me how to fight and I can fight her. I probably won't win, but I will be able to prolong the fight. Xavier can beat Marcus, but not if Endainme En'Dae interferes. So I will distract her." Kestral's voice was filled with sadness.  
  
She picked up the scimitars and began moving through a pattern dance.  
  
"Endainme En'Dae was an Amazon," Kestral told Selene conversationally. "She worked with me everyday until the day I left, until I was able to fight competently." She glanced at Selene and then shut her eyes, speeding up her dance, the scimitars becoming a flashing silver blur in the air. "Her favorite weapon is the sais. I will have the advantage with scimitars, but she will have a sword with her. She will know I'm coming." As she said the last sentence, she turned, eyes shut, scimitars flashing, long red hair whipping through space, and swung the lethal weapons towards Selene. Her eyes remained shut. She stopped moving very suddenly, her right scimitar stopping a hair's breadth from Selene's neck and her left just above Selene's nose.  
  
Slowly, Kestral's bright green eyes opened, and she lowered her scimitars. She resheathed them and laid them on the table, a slight smile on her face. She picked up the peculiar daggers.  
  
"These are sais," she told Selene, brandishing the weapons. She twirled them in her fingers, and then stuffed them into the straps on her boots, satisfying Selene's curiosity as to what the straps were for. She slid the sheaths of the scimitars onto a belt and buckled the belt around her waist. She picked up the throwing daggers and lined the back of her skirt with them, sliding them into sheaths already on the belt, then concealed two in her boots. The bow and quiver were slung over her shoulder. She selected a single gun from the numerous varieties that lined the wall, checked the mag, and then stuck the gun into her waistband.  
  
Selene noticed that the gun Kestral selected was a Beretta.  
  
"Now what?" Selene asked.  
  
"We wait."

They didn't have to wait long. Erika came bursting into the room not five minutes later. Selene was examining the guns and Kestral was leaning against the table, arms crossed on her chest. They were deep in a discussion about the virtues of a Beretta versus a Night Hawk. They both turned to look at Erika. She was paler than usual.  
  
"The lycans," she said. "They're here. Xavier wants to see you right away." Selene replaced the gun she had taken off the wall as an example and they followed Erika through the halls of the renegade manor to Xavier's office.  
  
As they passed over the front hallway, Selene glanced over the balcony as her nose filled with the stench of lycan. Dozens of lycans were walking into the renegade manor. Most carried guns of various sizes and calibers, but there was no small number of unarmed lycans with a feral look in their eyes that told Selene exactly how they intended to fight the vampires.  
  
_Disgusting_, she thought. Lycans were so primordial. Under Viktor, the idea that lycans were animals had become very commonly accepted, and Selene could easily understand where the idea had come from. She loved Michael, but she definitely wouldn't miss that side of him, were it to disappear.  
  
And then they were at the door to Xavier's office and she had no more time to speculate on the lycans. Erika opened the door and Selene and Kestral stepped inside.  
  
Xavier was waiting for them. He sat at his desk with his laptop off to the side. The screen was dark, but a small green light indicated it was turned on. Beside him stood Michael, looking over Xavier's shoulder at a piece of paper. Selene wanted to smile when she saw him—he looked so handsome, with his hair damp from the rain and a puzzled expression on his face—but she kept her face emotionless, slipping on her Death Dealer mask.  
  
Xavier and Michael looked up when the door opened. A happy smile spread across Michael's face when he saw her, a smile that reminded her of Ravyn. She felt an invisible knife twist in her heart at the thought of her daughter. Michael saw the flicker of emotion in her eyes and started to cross the room to her, but she stayed him with a glare. Public affection was not something Selene would tolerate. He looked confused, but he stayed in his place. Kestral saw their exchange and smiled inwardly, but Xavier missed it completely.  
  
"I thought you two would take all night," Xavier said when they entered, standing up from his desk. "Michael, this is my second-in-command, Kestral, and Selene. It's her daughter that's been abducted. Now, we all know why we're here. We want to plan our attack on Ordoghaz."  
  
"Marcus is almost as suspicious as Viktor," Kestral said. "If this attack is going to work, then it must be well on its way before Marcus even knows about it. That means we have to get rid of all the guards and the dogs. If we can loop the security cameras too, then we need to do that. Then we should send in the vampires first. They won't be conspicuous inside the manor and they can open the doors for the lycans. Once everybody's inside, then the attack can begin. With our combined forces, it shouldn't be too hard for one lycan and Erika to get Lucian, and for Selene and me to find Ravyn."  
  
"You?" Xavier asked. "Why you?"  
  
"Because Endainme En'Dae knows where she is and she'll tell me."  
  
"What makes you say that?"  
  
"If I know Endainme En'Dae, and I do, then I know that she will not be thrilled with Marcus keeping a baby captive. She'll tell me where she is so that we have a fair chance at getting her out alive. She knows we're coming."  
  
"Won't she warn Marcus?"  
  
"Unless I miss my guess, she already has."

"God dammit Marcus! Why won't you listen to me?" Endainme En'Dae shouted. "The renegades will attack soon! You have to do something to protect the coven!"  
  
"I don't have to do anything," Marcus said calmly. "The renegades wouldn't dare attack Ordoghaz."  
  
"I think being a hybrid has gone to your head, Marcus. Think for a minute, will you? Erika and Selene have been gone for three days! They're obviously planning something!"  
  
"Erika is not a renegade!" Marcus roared. Then he realized what Endainme En'Dae had said. "Hybrid?"  
  
"Don't play dumb, Marcus," Endainme En'Dae said, rolling her eyes. "Anyone with half a brain could tell that you weren't Awakened by a vampire. You don't act normal anymore; you don't smell normal; you don't even look normal."  
  
If Marcus's jaw had dropped any farther, it would have hit the floor.  
  
"Lucky for you," Endainme En'Dae continued, "Most of this coven doesn't have half a brain."

"So it's all settled?" Xavier said. Selene and Kestral nodded. As the most experience of the four, they had mapped out the battle. "You want to go give the pep talk Kes?" Kestral grinned and left. "You should probably go tell the lycans Michael."  
  
"Of course," Michael said, and left too, looking back at Selene wistfully before he shut the door. Once the room was empty, Xavier turned to Selene.  
  
"Are you sure you want to do this?"  
  
Selene nodded grimly. "I have to get my daughter back. There's no telling what Marcus will do to her in the meantime."  
  
"Be careful." He hadn't known her for very long, but he cared for the icy vampiress the way he had cared for his younger sister, while she lived.  
  
_But she didn't_, he reminded himself. _Marcus killed her_.

Selene waited in the shadows for Michael to finish explaining everything to the lycans. As the young hybrid finished his "stirring" speech and left the hall where the lycans had congregated, Selene stepped out into the light.  
  
"Holy shit Selene," Michael said when he saw her. "You scared me."  
  
"Will you be all right tonight with the lycans?" she asked bluntly.  
  
"Are you worried about me, Selene?" Michael asked with a grin.  
  
Selene didn't answer. She glared instead.  
  
"Yes, I'll be fine. As long as I don't run into Marcus again, anyway."  
  
"Promise me you'll be careful."  
  
"I will. And you?"  
  
"I'm always careful," Selene retorted.  
  
Michael raised an eyebrow, thinking of her driving, and pulled her in for a kiss.

A/N: Yes, I know, moose. Not NEARLY enough kissing. Too bad, get over it. There will be more in the next chapter, I promise. Now, please go press that little purple button by the box that says 'submit review'. You'll make me very happy if you do, and happy writers write faster!  
  
Kesaria: Thank you so much for your wonderful review! I'm glad you liked how Michael found out he was the father. I enjoyed writing it! Now for your constructive criticism. When Raze and Michael are eating the vampires, it's not cannibalistic for Raze, because he's lycan. But you're right about Michael. At that part, his lycan half is really in control, and a lycan would eat the vampires. They are part beast, after all. I considered putting in a scene where Michael, after he's changed back to his human form, realizes what he's just eaten—raw flesh—and goes into the bathroom to throw up. I decided not to though because I was feeling a bit 'delicate' that day, if you know what I mean, and slightly bloodthirsty, so I didn't put it in there. When I repost/rewrite everything when I'm done with this, I'll probably sneak it in there somewhere. Now, about the middle-school dance thing. I really wanted to stress the uncomfortableness of the situation and how the lycans and the vampires were avoiding each other like the plague, and I couldn't think of anything else to compare it to, so I went ahead and put it in. and since then, I've been waiting for someone to point it out that she wouldn't have experienced a middle school dance. But no one did. So congratulations! You're the first! I guess that if she ever watched teenage chick flicks, which I doubt, but hey, you never know, she would have seen one. But if you can come up with something else to compare it to, feel free to suggest, because I would really like to change it, but I can't think of what to change it to. Wow, that was long, wasn't it? Anyways, thank you so much for your review! It really made my day! Thanks!!!


	14. The Battle Begins

A/N: Okie, not as much kissing in this chappie as I thought there'd be, but oh well, you'll get over it. Moose's computer isn't working, so I'm posting this without a beta, so bear with me. I don't THINK there are any glaring mistakes, but if you catch one, PLEASE let me know. And I promise that if there is not good kissing in the next chapter, there will at least be something that will be VERY romantic. And moose, if you give it away, I will personally...do something very mean and nasty that I can't think of right now. ENJOY!  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. 

........

Chapter 13: The Battle Begins  
  
Selene stood by the metal-shuttered window of her room. Had the window been open, she would have been watching the sun set. But day still reigned in the world, and so she could not watch that which she had once enjoyed so much when she was alive. She missed the sunsets. It was one of the few things she missed about being human. One hand was fingering the Beretta she had taken from the dojo, and the other rested on her stomach. She had not enjoyed being pregnant, but at least she had had her child with her then.  
  
The door opened, and Michael walked in, shutting the door quietly behind him.  
  
"We're leaving soon," he said.  
  
"I know," whispered Selene. "As soon as the sun sets." Her voice was steady, conversational, but Michael could sense her tension.  
  
"Are you okay?" he asked her.  
  
Selene's head snapped around to face him. "My only child has been taken from me, and it's quite likely that I won't live through the night, and you ask me if I'm okay?"  
  
Michael took a step towards her and enfolded her in his arms.  
  
"I just want her back, Michael," she whispered into his chest. "I don't give a damn about this stupid war. Not anymore. I just want her back in my arms." She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face against his chest.  
  
"I know," he whispered into her hair. "I know." 

............

"Are you going to be okay tonight?" Xavier asked Kestral. They were in the dojo and he was loading a large machine gun while she sharpened one of her scimitars.  
  
"I'll be fine," Kestral said shortly. She was plainly worried, though. "Endainme En'Dae won't kill me. She'll probably kick my ass, but she won't kill me."  
  
"How can you be so sure?" Xavier sounded more worried than Kestral.  
  
"She was my friend. She was there when I gave birth to Sonja. She's the one who got me the position as Sonja's maid after Viktor took her from me. She tried to convince Viktor not to execute Sonja. I know her very well. She won't kill me."  
  
"What if she's changed her mind? It's been eight hundred years. If she was such a good friend, why didn't she come with us?"  
  
Kestral gave a harsh laugh. "Marcus," she told him. "She used to love him. She wanted to come with us, but she thought Marcus would need her more, when he Awoke. Remember, he used to love Sonja."  
  
"I remember," Xavier said, his voice tight.  
  
Kestral looked at him and said gently, "Xavier, I know he was your rival, I know he killed your sister, but don't you think that it's time to let go?"  
  
"I can't Kes. I can't forget the look on his face when he bit her, when he..." His voice trailed off. "I loved my sister, Kes. I can't just forget what he did to her."

...........

There were three vans waiting outside the renegade manor. One was for Selene, Michael, Erika, Raze, and the first round of vampires, as well as a lycan named George who was going to help loop the security cameras. The second van was for Xavier and Kestral and the rest of the vampires and some of the lycans. The last van was to be driven by a lycan named Leon, and he carried the lycans and the extra weapons. Leon had lost his left leg while he was a human fighting in a war, and as a result, his van was to be the getaway car. When Lucian and Ravyn had been recovered, they were to be taken to Leon's van and Leon was to take them back to the renegade manor, where they would be safe.  
  
After the sun had set, everyone poured out of the mansion and into their designated van. Leon limped out of the manor last, his gait awkward because of a wooden leg. Xavier and Kestral stood by their van quietly, waiting for their load of warriors to finish loading themselves and their weapons. When everyone was inside, Xavier slammed the door behind them and turned to Kestral. He cupped her cheek gently in the palm of one hand. "Be careful," he told her softly. "I couldn't afford to get a new second-in-command at this stage of things." She smiled softly at him and went around to the driver's side and climbed in, turning the ignition.  
  
Selene witnessed this tender exchange as she went around to her own van and realized for the first time the full extent of Kestral and Xavier's feelings for each other. She wondered idly if either of them realized it yet. She came up on the side of her van, and Michael was waiting. He held out a hand.  
  
"Give me the keys," he said.  
  
"Nonsense, I'm driving."  
  
"Give me the keys Selene." He looked at her with an expression filled with laughing tenderness and she handed the keys over with a sigh.  
  
"Fine, but I get to drive home." She climbed into the van.  
  
"Whatever you say, dear," Michael said with a smile, turning the keys and starting the engine. 

..........

They parked the vans a little ways off from Ordoghaz.  
  
"Ready?" Michael asked Selene. She nodded. She had checked her gun several times on the way, as well as the numerous wireless connectors George had given her. When attached to the security camera cords, the picture would go to George's lap top, which he would use to make the loop.  
  
Michael pulled her in for a kiss. He eased his lips over hers gently, teasing at her tongue with his. When he pulled away, they were both breathless and George was rolling his eyes.  
  
"Go," Michael said. Selene nodded and got out of the van, closing the door as quietly as she could. She walked quickly away from the vans, walking up to a discreet part of Ordoghaz's gate, both sides hidden by thick bushes. She climbed the fence carefully, being extra careful never to let her body out of the bushes, and trying not to move the branches too much.  
  
After she had maneuvered herself over the fence, she went to go deal with the guards and their dogs. The dogs were easy. She had special treats in her pockets that would knock the dogs unconscious. It was their masters Selene was worried about. If someone saw her beating the guards senseless, she would be found out, and the attack blown. She would be caught, branded a traitor—again—and likely killed. There was a backup plan to get into the manor in case she was caught, but Selene would much rather do it herself. She gathered a handful of the dog treats, hoping they were fast acting, and stepped out of the bushes.  
  
Instantly, a guard saw her, and walked up, his hand on his dog's collar, ready to release the leash. She put some treats on the ground around her, and waited. Her other hand was in the pocket of her coat, resting on her gun, which was reassuringly heavy in her hand. She didn't plan to shoot the guard; that would make to much noise. She planned to hit him on the back of the head with the barrel of the thing.  
  
Just a few more steps, she told herself. Just a little closer.  
  
"Selene?" the guard asked. "What are you doing out here?"  
  
"Mason?" Selene asked incredulously, thinking at the same time, damn, damn, damn! Why did the first one have to be Mason? Mason was a former Death Dealer, and a good friend of Khan's. Selene had only worked with him a few times, but had enjoyed it immensely each time. Mason was quick, efficient, and a good fighter, a good person to have at your back.  
  
"What are you doing here?" she asked.  
  
"Um, I work here," Mason told her. He looked down at his dog, who was eating something on the ground. "Selene, what's going on?"  
  
Can I trust him? she wondered. "Mason, I need your help." 

............

Once the situation was properly explained to him, Mason was more than happy to help her with the other guards. Together, they disposed of all twenty of the guards and their dogs.  
  
"Thank you Mason," Selene said gratefully. "I don't know how I'll ever repay you."  
  
"Hit me," he said.  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
"Knock me out. If they find me conscious, when all the other guards aren't, they'll get suspicious."  
  
"Oh! Of course," she said. She took out her gun and went around behind Mason and hit him at the base of his skull and he crumpled to the ground.  
  
"I'm sorry, old friend," she said to his unconscious body. 

..........

Getting into Ordoghaz was surprisingly easy. Selene had gotten down to the crypt without being stopped. She opened the door to the security booth. A vampire she had never seen before sat at the desk, feet propped up and a magazine in his hands. Selene was almost ashamed at how easy it was to sneak up on him and knock him unconscious with her gun. Quickly, in case anyone nearby had heard, she began applying the connectors to the wires that ran up into the computer monitors set in the desk.  
  
She waited nervously for the signal that would tell her that George had looped the cameras, and it was safe for her to let the attackers in.  
  
Nearly five minutes later, her cell phone vibrated in her pocket. She answered it quickly.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"All engines go," George's voice said. She snapped the phone shut, glancing at the security monitors. Sure enough, they showed to same scene over and over again. Selene was most impressed by splicing George had done of the outside security camera. It showed the guards pacing across the vast lawn, with not so much as a catch when the image looped. She smiled in appreciation and pressed the button that would open the gates, then hurried upstairs to the front door. She opened the doors and a few minutes later, the vampires began pouring in, quickly followed by the lycans.  
  
The battle was on. 


	15. A Duel to the Death

A/N: I turned on my computer this morning, and there were FIVE reviews waiting for me! YAY!! So I decided that I would write this next chapter very quickly, and get it posted. And, if you all are nice, and everybody reviews, then maybe I'll write the next chapter just as quickly! Reviews make me happy, and happy writers write faster. Just a head's up: there is a very sad scene (at least, I think it's sad) at the very end of this chapter. It will undoubtedly make some of you mad (cough moose cough), but I am NOT, no matter how much she begs me, going to reverse the situation. I'm very upset about having to do it, and it made me cry, but it had to happen. Sorry.  
  
Disclaimer: don't own, don't sue.  
  
  
  
Chapter 14: A Duel to the Death  
  
Kestral raced through the halls of Ordoghaz, a gun in one hand, a sword in the other, looking for Endainme En'Dae. All around her, there was the carnage of battle. Lycans and vampires alike lay dead on the ground around her, some mutilated beyond recognition, many vampires burned or ripped to shreds, several lycans, half-transformed, shot to death before they could complete the change.  
  
Kestral ran on, listening for the telltale signs of battle she was sure would surround her friend. Footsteps sounded behind her and she whirled around, dropping into a crouch, gun cocked, sword at the ready.  
  
"Don't shoot," Endainme En'Dae said, throwing her hands up. She, too, had a gun in one hand and a sword in the other. The sword was sheathed in the bright crimson blood of her enemies.  
  
"Where is she?" Kestral asked quickly, rising to her feet.  
  
"My rooms. The study, there's a cradle by the window."  
  
Kestral nodded her thanks and started to turn.  
  
"Kestral," Endainme En'Dae said, stopping her.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"The final battle, it will be in the crypt. Marcus is already there. I must go to him."  
  
"I understand." The two nodded at each other and a moment of perfect understanding and sorrow passed between them, as each knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it might well become a duel to the death between them when they met in battle for the first time in eight hundred years. And they each hoped desperately that it would not come to that.  
  
  
  
As she had been instructed, Erika ran through the house to the servant's quarters, and to the great steel door behind which Lucian was kept. A large, but incredibly lithe lycan by the name of Lawrence followed close behind her, gun out, transformation barely kept at bay. His job was to protect her until they got to the dungeon where Lucian was kept and then to get Lucian out alive. Erika had a gun tucked into her waistband, because after they reached Lucian, Lawrence was under no obligation to protect her.  
  
They reached the door quickly, and Erika opened it easily. She couldn't believe Marcus hadn't locked it, now that she knew where it was and what it contained. She hurried down the passage, Lawrence following her closely. The passage wasn't long and they reached the end quickly. Lawrence pushed past her, hurrying to Lucian, saying something quietly to him. Judging her task complete, she turned and ran back down the passage, towards Marcus.  
  
Towards the man she loved with all her heart, and she was damned if she would let Xavier kill him in cold blood.  
  
  
  
Kestral opened the door the Endainme En'Dae's rooms. It had been left unlocked, as thought Endainme En'Dae knew that they were coming.  
  
She probably did, Kestral reminded herself. She always seems to know everything.  
  
She tried to remember where Endainme En'Dae's study was, but found the problem solved for her by the sound of a baby wailing. Kestral hurried towards the sound, sheathing her sword and putting away her gun.  
  
True to her word, Endainme En'Dae had left the crib by the window, with the full light of the moon shining on the tiny babe. Crooning softly to the child, Kestral picked her up, cradling her to her breast as she had once done with her own daughter. Ravyn pressed her face against Kestral, seeking something to suckle, but met only with the cloth of Kestral's body suit. The little girl let out a wailing cry of frustration and Kestral winced involuntarily. She had forgotten, over the long centuries, just how loudly a hungry baby could cry.  
  
"Shhh," she said softly. "Let's get you to your mother." She started toward the door, when she heard the front door of Endainme En'Dae's rooms burst open. In an instant, her gun was in her hand, trained on the door, and the baby in her other arm.  
  
Selene appeared in the doorway, and Kestral lowered her gun in relief. Ravyn squalled harder at the noise Selene had made upon her entry of the room, and Kestral handed her to her mother gratefully.  
  
"She's hungry. Stay here and feed her, then go back to the vans."  
  
Selene nodded and sat down in an armchair, fumbling with the ties of her corset with one hand. Kestral was unsure whether she should help or not, and had started towards her, an offer of assistance on her lips, when Michael burst in, as though he, too, had been summoned by his daughter's cries.  
  
"Help her," Kestral said, nodding at Selene. "The baby's hungry."  
  
Michael stared at her, then at Selene, who was still fumbling at her ties with one hand, and holding Ravyn in the other. A look of wonder on his face, he walked towards Selene and his child.  
  
  
  
Endainme En'Dae strode angrily into the crypt. Marcus was already there, pacing, muttering over and over, "What do I do? What do I do?"  
  
"You should have done something earlier, that's what" she snapped. He turned to her in surprise.  
  
"Endainme En'Dae? What are you doing here?"  
  
"Getting ready to protect your sorry ass," she said irritably. "Xavier will be here any minute, and he'll be ready to kill you."  
  
"Let him come," Marcus said bravely, and somewhat stupidly. "I can take him."  
  
"Typical man," Endainme En'Dae sighed. "You may be an undead, Marcus, but your still so...damn proud! Without me or Kestral getting involved, the two of you are evenly matched; it will come down to who can think faster. Xavier been preparing for this fight for the last eight centuries, five of which, you slept through!"  
  
Marcus opened his mouth to tell her that he could kick Xavier sorry vampiric ass any day, but thought better of it. Endainme En'Dae was a very sensible woman, and she didn't overreact. If she said that Xavier might be able to best him in single combat, then it was probably true. Instead he asked, "What do I do?"  
  
"Fight, damn you! Fight!"  
  
  
  
Xavier burst into the crypt. Marcus was already waiting for him, a sword in his hand. Xavier drew his own sword that Kestral had insisted he carry, and charged the Elder, bringing his sword up for a swing. Marcus parried, and the fight was on.  
  
Kestral and Endainme En'Dae had both known that if Xavier and Marcus fought with pistols, then fight would be over very quickly, and one, if not both of them, would die. Both women wanted to prevent that, and so both had insisted on swords, giving the men a chance to fight until they tired, at which point they could intervene to begin the creation of a peace treaty.  
  
Endainme En'Dae watched the fight with interest, waiting for the moment when she was supposed to intervene. It came only minutes into the fight. She drew her sais and started towards the battle. She raised one of the weapons, preparing the join the fray, when a blade suddenly caught hers with a clash of metal on metal, and Endainme En'Dae turned slightly to see that the wielder was Kestral. She held her scimitars in her hands, the left one held in a wary defensive position, the right one against her sais, challenging her opponent.  
  
Endainme En'Dae grinned at Kestral. "Shall we see how hard you've been practicing?"  
  
Kestral grinned back. "Very hard." They both pulled back their blades and then struck at each other, beginning another battle in the crypt.  
  
Marcus and Xavier struck clumsily at each other with the swords. Neither was used to the cumbersome weapons; they had used guns much more often. Kestral and Endainme En'Dae, on the other hand, clearly knew what they were doing, striking and parrying with grace and ease. They had fought together many times, and each knew exactly what the other would do, before she even did it.  
  
At one point, their hilts locked together, and Endainme En'Dae said, "You've gotten very good. I'm impressed."  
  
"I'm glad. You've learned a few new tricks yourself."  
  
"Practice makes perfect," Endainme En'Dae said. They pulled away from each other and the fight began anew.  
  
  
  
Erika was quite out of breath, and there was a stitch in her side, but she kept running. She had to find Marcus, had to warn him.  
  
She ran towards the crypt. That was where Kestral had said the final battle would take place, and that was where Marcus was.  
  
Hold on, she thought desperately. You aren't allowed to die without me there.  
  
She had seen Xavier's face as he jumped out of the van, gun in his hand. She had seen the murderous rage in his eyes, and had felt a cold dread run through her. He was going to kill Marcus, but she was damned if she would let him!  
  
  
  
Kestral struck at her old friend again and again, fighting mechanically as she looked for an opening to disarm her opponent. She watched Endainme En'Dae's eyes and chest, trying to anticipate a move that would leave her an opening to strike one of the sais from her friend's hand.  
  
"Stop!" a voice rang out. Erika's. Surprised by her entrance, Kestral and Endainme En'Dae turned automatically toward the door, fight momentarily forgotten in the surprise of the moment.  
  
Unfortunately, Xavier turned as well, but Marcus remained focused on the task at hand. In that single moment of Xavier's inattention, Marcus pulled his arm back and plunged the sword into Xavier's chest. Blood spewed from Xavier's mouth as the sword entered him.  
  
"NO!" Kestral screamed, seeing him collapse to the cold, hard ground as Marcus withdrew his sword, staring his enemy boldly in the face. Kestral ran to him, cradling his body in her arms.  
  
"No. No," she whispered over and over again. She stroked his hair, rocking him gently in her arms.  
  
"Kestral," he said weakly.  
  
"I'm here," she said, tears welling in her eyes. "I'm here. Don't worry; everything will be fine."  
  
"I'm dying Kes," he whispered.  
  
"No!"  
  
He reached up and laid his hand on her cheek. "Don't be afraid," he told her softly.  
  
"I can't let you go," she told him, one hand holding his to her cheek.  
  
"I love you," he whispered. "I...always have."  
  
The tears in her eyes spilled over and rolled down her face. "I love you too." Her voice was thick with sorrow. She cradled him tightly to her, whispering the words over and over.  
  
"Goodbye...my love."  
  
"No!" she screamed. "No! You can't die on me now. You can't! I won't let you!"  
  
"I...can't...stay." Each word seemed a desperate struggle for him to say. "I'll be with you always my darling." He shut his eyes in pain, and Kestral leaned down and kissed him very gently.  
  
"Always," she said, reaffirming his words. He gave a deep, shuddering sigh, and Kestral felt all the life go out of him. A wordless scream tore her throat, and she bent over the body of her love, sobbing with grief.  
  
  
  
A/N: I have some sympathy for J.K. Rowling now. Of course, I don't think I killed off everyone's favorite character, but still. Like I said in my first author's note: it made me cry to write it, but it had to be done.  
  
And if you review quickly, I'll post the next chapter soon!  
  
Just a request: when you review, tell me if you would read a sequel, about Ravyn, but with a little bit more of a fantasy element. Moose doesn't want me to do it, but I've already written the first 1 ½ chapters. Just wondering who would read it. Thanks! 


	16. Over

A/N: This is the last chapter besides the epilogue, which will be extremely short. Please review and tell me (if you haven't already) if you would read a sequel about Ravyn, but with a bit more of the fantasy element. Thanks guys!  
  
Disclaimer: don't own, don't sue  
  
  
  
Chapter 15: Over  
  
Marcus stared incomprehensibly at Kestral, weeping inconsolably over Xavier's body. Erika had crossed the room by this time, and pressed herself into Marcus's arms, shock making her eyes wide and her face even paler than normal. Endainme En'Dae sheathed her sais, and strode over to them, pushing them towards the door.  
  
"Out," she commanded softly. Powerless in the face of Kestral's grief, they went without protest, exiting through a small side door which Endainme En'Dae shut firmly behind them. She went back to Kestral, and put her arms around her friend.  
  
Kestral turned away from Xavier and sobbed into Endainme En'Dae's shirt. Endainme En'Dae stroked Kestral's red curls gently, murmuring incomprehensibly to her. It was not the words that mattered, she knew, but the comfort.  
  
After several minutes, Kestral lifted her head and whispered, "I loved him. And I didn't even know until..." She trailed off, a fresh bout of tears making their inexorable path down her cheeks, which were already red with crying. Her green eyes were puffy and swollen from the strength of her grief.  
  
"I know," Endainme En'Dae said softly. "I know."  
  
  
  
It took Kestral a long time to stop crying, but when she finally did, she looked at Endainme En'Dae and asked in a rough whisper, "What do we do now?"  
  
"You must be strong, my friend," Endainme En'Dae told her. "The war is over. And now we must talk of peace with Marcus."  
  
Kestral's eyes hardened at Marcus's name, but she nodded. "I can do it. But, I'd like to clean up first." She gestured vaguely at her face, red and blotchy, and at her dress, which was damp with tears.  
  
"Of course." Endainme En'Dae smiled gently at Kestral, and she smiled weakly back.  
  
Endainme En'Dae helped Kestral to her feet, leading her towards the door, and hoping that Marcus and Erika had enough sense to be gone by the time they got there.  
  
Apparantly, they did, because the long, cold hallway was quite empty. Kestral and Endainme En'Dae walked slowly through Ordoghaz's halls to Endainme En'Dae's room. Once they got there, Kestral took a shower while Endainme En'Dae changed clothes.  
  
  
  
Kestral emerged from the bathroom looking sad, but refreshed. Wordlessly, Endainme En'Dae offered her a clean dress, and Kestral took it with a smile. She dressed quickly and then started towards the door, but Endainme En'Dae motioned for her to sit down on a couch in her sitting room.  
  
"I've asked Marcus to come here in one hour," Endainme En'Dae told her. "So that we'll have time to decide what we want to ask him."  
  
Kestral nodded.  
  
"Do you want anything from him?" Endainme En'Dae prompted.  
  
Kestral leaned her head back against the couch. She thought of revenge, of killing Marcus with her bare hands, but knew, even as she wished for it, that she could never ask that. While Marcus, who undoubtedly felt guilty about Xavier's death, would probably grant her anything she asked, even his own death, she could never do that to Endainme En'Dae. Kestral knew that her friend had once been Marcus's lover, and still cared about him greatly. Now that she knew what it felt like to lose the man you loved, she could never inflict that pain on her friend. At last, she looked Endainme En'Dae straight in the eye, and said, "I want a full pardon for all the renegades. I want to join the renegades and the Coven, so that we are as we were before the war. Most of us left because of Sonja. Some, who were alive when my daughter was killed, and some who found out the truth by accident. I want Marcus to tell the Coven the truth, about everything, and then I want him to marry Erika, if she wishes. And I want him to make you an Elder."  
  
Endainme En'Dae gaped at her. She had expected—and been prepared to head off—any desires for revenge, or for Kestral's own death. This was not at all what she had expected. When she finally found her voice, she said, "And the lycans?"  
  
"I want Marcus to met with Michael and create a peace treaty with the lycans. I want the fighting to end. Permanently."  
  
"And what about you? If the renegades are to join the Coven, then they will need someone they know, and respect, to help lead the Coven if you want the joining to be smooth."  
  
"Fine."  
  
  
  
When Marcus arrived an hour later, he had several blank sheets of paper in his hand. Kestral was in Endainme En'Dae's bedroom, asleep. Endainme En'Dae had given her several glasses of blood, with a bit of a sleeping draught mixed in, that had put her right to sleep.  
  
Marcus looked around nervously as he entered Endainme En'Dae's sitting room.  
  
"She's asleep," Endainme En'Dae informed him sharply.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Oh is right, you damned bastard!" Marcus winced. "Did you have to bloody kill him?"  
  
"I didn't mean to."  
  
"Do you realize what you sound like?" Endainme En'Dae demanded, her voice dangerously low. Marcus quavered under her withering glare. "You sound like a bloody six-year-old, who has just broken his little brother's toy!" The intensity of her glare increased, and her tone became softer, and more dangerous. "I asked her what she wanted of you, and do you know what she said? She said she wanted the renegades to be pardoned and allowed to join the Coven. She said she wanted you to tell the Coven the truth about this damned war, she wants to make me an Elder _and_ she wants _you_ to marry Erika!" Endainme En'Dae's voice had reached the ultimate level of dangerousness, and Marcus was practically shaking in his shoes from terror.  
  
He swallowed hard. "Anything else?"  
  
"She wants you to meet with Michael and end this damned war with the lycans. Permanently. And I demand that you make her an Elder."  
  
Marcus swallowed again, setting the paper down on the table. "That's fine. I brought the paper so we could draw up a proper contract." He gave a heavy sigh of relief and collapsed into an arm chair. "I thought she was going to ask to kill me."  
  
Endainme En'Dae sat down too. "So did I. I was ready to talk her out of it. She considered it. I saw it on her face. But she decided not to. She didn't even mention it. I don't know why." She picked up a pen and grabbed the sheaf of papers. "Now, about this contract..."  
  
  
  
When everything had been written out, there was a peace treaty with the renegades, Michael had been summoned from the renegade manor and there was a peace treaty with the lycans, Erika had arrived and agreed to the marriage, and the agreements that would allow the renegades to join with the Coven had been drawn up. Kestral was still asleep in Endainme En'Dae's bedroom and Ravyn, who had come with Michael and Selene, was asleep next to her. Every hour, either Selene or Endainme En'Dae would get up to check on them.  
  
The battle that resulted in Xavier's death had ended around midnight, Selene and Michael had been summoned around dawn, and it was now nearing dusk. Selene glanced at the clock, and stood. "We'd better get going. Ravyn will be waking up soon." Endainme En'Dae stood as well and embraced Selene.  
  
"If you like, you can move back in. We'll keep your rooms for you."  
  
"Thank you," Selene said, gratefully. "I'll think about it."

  
  
Michael and Selene made it to the renegade manor without incident. They went to Selene's rooms, where Selene put the baby into the crib a helpful servant had placed in her sitting room. Selene sat down on her bed and started to pull off her heavy boots. Michael stood staring out the window, gazing at the moon. The expression on his face was worried and nervous.  
  
"Michael, what's wrong?" Selene asked, going to the window and standing next to him.  
  
He turned to her, and smiled slightly, but nervousness and apprehension still filled his face. "I've been thinking," he started.  
  
"Oh dear."  
  
"No, I'm serious. I've been thinking. Once my divorce is finalized..." he trailed off, and Selene felt something begin to swell in her chest. Could he be asking her what she thought he was asking?  
  
He pulled something out of his pocket and went down on one knee. "Selene will you marry me?" He opened the little velvet box in his hand, revealing a diamond set on a silver band.  
  
Selene put a hand to her mouth, and felt a smile growing beneath her hand. "Yes," she said happily. "Yes!" She pulled him to his feet and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his face to hers. At first, his lips were stiff against hers, shock preventing him from responding to her touch. But he quickly softened against her, putting his arms around her waist and tightening his grip.  
  
Several minutes later, they emerged from their kiss, breathless. Michael slipped the ring out of its box and slid it onto Selene's hand. She looked down, admiring the ring and it's fit on her pale hand.  
  
"Do you like it?" Michael asked a trifle nervously.  
  
"I love it," Selene told him firmly, and pulled him in for another kiss.  
  
  
  
A/N: awwww, isn't that sweet? This is the last chapter. There's an epilogue, but that's going to be pretty short. Please review, and let me know if you'd like to read a sequel about Ravyn. It will have a bit more of the fantasy element, because it's sort of a cross-over with some of my original stuff. Those who have already voiced their opinions, thank you. I have several yeses, and one maybe, but that's from moose.  
  
I would like to give a huge thanks to the following people for reviewing faithfully throughout this story:  
  
Khayla-Even though you came in fairly late in the game, you were very supportive and reviewed every chapter! Thank you.  
  
Lady K2- You have been a great encouragement throughout this story. Without you, a lot of the stuff that's in here probably wouldn't be. Thank you!  
  
And the biggest thanks of all goes to vampirehuntr00, aka Moose and my muse. You introduced me to Underworld, got me started on this silly thing, let me borrow a character (sorry I can't give him back; he's kinda dead. sorry!), and let me bounce ideas off of you constantly! Thank you so much! Without you, there would be no fic. I hope you will continue to be my muse, even though you're mad about Xavier.  
  
I will thank all of my reviewers individually in the epilogue, and answer all questions that we're asked, even if they have been answered during the course of this fic. Thank you all so much, and please review!


	17. Epilogue

A/N: Well guys, this is it. This is the end. Our little adventure is over. This is the very last chapter in this fic. After this epilogue, there is no more. Except the sequel. I have, as I've mentioned before, the first 1 ½ chapters written in my notebook. I've pretty much decided to post it, because I have gotten such a good response from reviewers. Thanks guys!  
  
Disclaimer: don't own, don't sue.  
  
  
  
Epilogue  
  
Selene stood and clapped along with everyone else as Marcus and Erika kissed. She felt the unfamiliar weight of her engagement ring on her hand, and her smile broadened. Michael had given it to her two months ago, and his divorce was almost final. She had already started planning their wedding.  
  
Marcus and Erika walked down the flower-strewn improvised aisle that had been made on Ordoghaz's huge back lawn, smiling at each other like teenagers in love. Selene scanned the crowd, and saw Endainme En'Dae and Kestral, both now Elders, sitting together. Both were crying and smiling, but Kestral still had the lingering look of sadness that had haunted her face since Xavier's death.  
  
Selene quickly pushed thoughts of Xavier out of her mind and turned to Michael, who was holding Ravyn. She took their daughter in her arms and smiled down at her baby, then looked up at Michael. He smiled back at her and leaned over, kissing her forehead.  
  
"That'll be us soon," he told her. Selene turned back to look at the happy couple, who were almost inside. Many of the guests were beginning to follow, in anticipation of the reception that would soon follow. Selene leaned back against Michael, loving the feel of his warm bulk against her back. She sighed happily.  
  
She couldn't wait.  
  
  
  
A/N: I told you it was short. You can't say I didn't warn you. Now, to the acknowledgements.  
  
Brainfear: You've been watching Van Helsing, haven't you? Well, here's how I see it. First, there's Sonja: she was Viktor's daughter, making her a born vampire. And then there's the fact that Michael is the father, and he's alive, so he can provide the baby with life. Or whatever you want to call it, because the baby is dead, but alive and...I'm confusing myself. I'll stop.  
  
Uconn fan: I read it in a book. I'd tell you which book, but I can't remember. I think the girl was a vampire hunter, or some such thing, which fits fairly well with what I have planned for Ravyn. The author was Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, if you want to check it out.  
  
Liz: I'm glad you liked the weapons; I did too. And by the way, when I got your review, I freaked out at first, because my mom's name is Liz, and just before I got your review, she told me she had read parts of my fic and that they had "interesting allusions." I think she read the chapters where there was sex. Really freaked me out, but then I realized that you weren't my mother and what a relief THAT was!  
  
Xenocharm: took ya long enough! Lol, just messing with you. and by the way, Flame is not a character. There isn't anyone in this story that's based off of any of our friends.  
  
Akemi Akibi: Your name gave my spell check fits! It's really cool, but the computer didn't like it. But it's decided to behave now. I made René a complete bitch because, when Michael married her, he didn't really realized what she was like, because he couldn't read her thoughts. Also, I needed to make sure that Michael would never go back to her, for any reason. And so I made her a bit more bitchy than she actually is so that he wouldn't.  
  
Reven Eid: another name that bugged the crap out of my computer. Honestly, I think the silly thing needs to lighten up. It is the most close-minded thing I've ever met! I hope I answered your question about the purpose of the renegades in the story. I did try to. But, in case I didn't, the answer is: the renegades—or at least, Xavier—want to overthrow the Elders, and fix all the things that are wrong with the Coven. That's why they will follow Kestral, is because they know her, and they know that she will fix many things that are wrong with the Coven. That's one of the reasons I had to kill Xavier; because he would not have been satisfied until all three Elders were dead.  
  
Chronicles Bailey: Your review, as I know I've mentioned in some previous chapter, made my day. I have enclosed it here for the enjoyment of all. (it came after the chapter where Michael considers going back to René. That's chapter 4, I believe) :

no, he absolutely could not. I forbid it. Hell, Raze forbids it, don't you Raze?  
Raze: nods.  
And Selene is furious! Aren't you Selene?  
Selene: fumes  
See? He isn't allowed.  
  
Kaysey (who may or may not be Khayla): I'm glad you enjoyed it.  
  
xXxCrimsonTearsxXx: thanks for the idea!  
  
LuthienGraner2004: without you and xXxCrimsonTearsxXx, Ravyn wouldn't be here! Thanks!!  
  
Flame: reads small print writer is not responsible for failure of reader's computer to produce entire chapter. Lol, you know I'm kidding right? –Ice  
  
Otakuprincess: I appreciate your thoughts, although I disagree. The reason Moose's and mine are so similar is because...well, I don't really think they are. The shower is because she was covered in dirt and blood. Talking about the lycans falls under the category of duh. And as for writing a story with different characters...maybe I'm misreading that, but doing that would make it something original, not a fic. And that's all I'm going to say about that.  
  
Wendy Dale Smith: I'm glad you enjoyed it. I tried to keep Selene's voice as best I could, but it was a bit difficult. She's a completely different character than anything I've ever written before, and I hope I've done a good job with her.  
  
Nocturna Canis: thank you for reviewing. It really boosts my spirits, and helps me to write faster, as is evident from the fact that ch14, ch15, and the epilogue were all posted within two days of each other. Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it.  
  
MD: I'm glad you like the renegade idea. I came up with it on the spur of the moment, as I was writing, and it really gave this story a direction.  
  
Shyann: yes, I do realize that, and I have brought them back together. They're even going to get married!  
  
Iridescent eyes: thanks for your loyal reviewing. To answer your question, Kestral knows that the father is a lycan, but not who. Erika guesses that it's Michael, because she has know Selene for a long time, and he's the only man she's ever really shown interest in. Endainme En'Dae doesn't know, because she and Selene aren't very close, so Selene just lets her believe whatever she wants to.  
  
Sdakerrigan: Well, I'm sorry to disappoint, but I like happy endings, so I couldn't bear to do something nasty to Michael or Marcus. I'm sorry, but killing Xavier depleted my 'do something nasty to a character' stores. I hope you weren't TOO disappointed.  
  
Kesaria: you're a genius! You're right about mason, he did follow her too easily, now that I think about it. I'll fix it though. That idea about his family, that's a good one! Thank you so much for all your suggestions. I hope you'll continue with them when I post Assassin (that's the sequel). Thanks!!  
  
Moose: You are my best friend, and it is only right that I give you acknowledgement for your help in writing, editing, coming up with ideas, and hammering out the timeline. Thank you so much!! I couldn't have done it without you!  
  
Lady K2: I know I've already thanked you, but it can't hurt to do it again, can it? I'm glad you enjoyed this fic, and I hope you will enjoy Assassin (the sequel) just as much. You, too, have been a driving force in the continuation of this fic. Thank you!  
  
Khayla: Thank you for your very loyal reviewing. I appreciate you taking the time to review every chapter, even though you came in in the middle. I'm glad you've enjoyed this fic.  
  
Other Reviewers: Redd VampyricAngel Zevrillion Kelly Fan of too many shows Klaudestar Latanya Divamercury Gem-Cena Tigerlily-2250 Mary The Lady Mage Trithalol Manda Lucian's Sonja carrie Du Soleil Oriental XxVampire QueenxX Ray Kim Matasuri Kikyou Lady of Shalotte SoT'n'Kenshin Morrgaine Eight Wondergirl03 gentlewriter Chris-21-2004 AquariusF5 Me (I don't know who you are, but I must admit to some curiosity, since it isn't ME)  
  
Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I think I got everybody, but if I didn't, that doesn't mean I don't appreciate you reviews, and the time you take to write them! Thank you so much to everyone. I hope you will all read Assassin. I hope to get it posted in a few days.  
  
Some fics to amuse yourself with:  
  
Anything by Jess J. She is a very talented writer, and I really enjoy her stuff.

Anything by Nightslash, especially his humor stuff. He is so funny, I almost fell off my chair, laughing.

Anything by vampirehuntr00. she's my best friend, and a great writer, and I have to give her a recommendation.

Underworld: My Immortal by Lady K2. She has been a great supporter of this story, and she is a fantastic writer! If you haven't read her fic yet, you should.

Anything by Khayla. She mostly writes Charmed stuff, but she does have an Underworld one-shot that's pretty good. I highly recommend it.

Heart Veneer by iridescent eyes. Completed. A very good story. kinda short, but really good!

She is my Sin by Bronwyn/Moomimp. A Lucian/Sonja one-shot. Very good. Extremely well written. Just the right blend of beauty, sadness, and joy.

The Turning by Wendy Dale Smith. Completed. She is an AMAZING writer, and I highly recommend this fic. It's...unbelievable!  
  
For more suggestions, you can check out my favorites list. Please Review!


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